Distriction: Head's Up

Wisdom in the weirdest places -- and the most apropos times

... it made my week nonetheless

watch this space: the cynic in me has to point out the riot control/opiate-of-the-masses angle of inspirational adverts on the ever-"moving-momentarily" Metro car -- points for PR and practicality

So much for the free Aqua Dots ...

Now I'll never get to be on Evil's speed dial; thanks, Rachel -- but, seriously, thanks


Progress is a slow process, but someone out there is reading this blog -- though I didn't think it would be a Burson-Marsteller watchdog group -- an audience is an audience.

Looks like I'll need some image consultation to get back in Burson's good graces. So ... now would be a good time to call Burson-Marsteller so I -- they -- can spin this post about themselves to themselves.

PR and Politics -- in a nutshell

"When evil needs public relations, evil has Burson-Marsteller on speed dial ..."



When your cat died: curiosity called Burson-Marsteller; When Baja Men made a scene about dogs running rampant: "who" called Burson-Marsteller; When The Beatles broke up: Yoko Ono called Burson-Marsteller; When you didn't get an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas '93: Santa called Burson-Marsteller; When NYU rejected you: the SATs called Burson-Marsteller; When you couldn't make that job interview: the malfunctioning Red Line train to Glenmont called Burson-Marsteller; When Jack died and "let go": the North Atlantic called Burson-Marsteller; When Michael Phelps lost Kellog: the bong called Burson-Marsteller ...

Watch this space

Flack is the new Black

See, now who's looking silly for switching from Journalism to Public Communications? I should go on whims more often ...

It took an economic crisis to give flacks the edge ... I'll take what I can get.

Flacks thrive on behind-the-scenes, but let's face it ... everyone wants their 15

Watch this space: and the classifieds

I'll gladly print you Tuesday for a lead today

A daily dose of People Helping People -- though I'm pretty sure the Circus sneak peek was enough good karma to last me through the week. Three times a day I get HARO queries, where Peter Shankman looks to link journalists with sources. As an intern I haven't technically answered any of the queries but ... I'm working on it, and it doesn't mean you can't

Each day, you'll receive up to three emails, each with anywhere from 15-30 queries per email. They'll all be labeled with [shankman.com] in the subject line, for easy filtering. If you see a query you can answer, go for it! HelpAReporterOut.com really is that simple.

I built this list because a lot of my friends are reporters, and they call me all the time for sources. Rather than go through my contact lists each time, I figured I could push the requests out to people who actually have something to say.

So a few things about this list: First off, yes, it's free.

There's more, but usually "First off, yes, it's free," is the selling point ...