April's Apprehension

April showers bring May flowers. But in this case, April brought much stress into my life, because it was nearing the end of the semester, which meant grades were more important than interning. And yet, I took on more than I should have.

Songfest
A USC gig I signed up for because I thought it would be easy. I wrote a preview of the show which was a fundraiser. It was actually pretty entertaining and I got in for free. Sorry Troy Camp Kids. http://bit.ly/9VbP2N

Springfest
Another USC gig I signed up for because I thought it would be easy. This was a concert in the quad that was quite the s**t-show. It was pretty awful if you weren’t inebriated. http://bit.ly/8XQDjj

In My Sleep
My first screener. A movie that I saw alone in my room, in the dark on my bed using my laptop. Not a good idea considering it was a thriller. Great movie though. http://bit.ly/beIYEz

Michael B. Jordan
Oh man this was a mess to try to schedule. First, rescheduled a phoner too many times, and once I was finally talking to him, his phone kept cut off four times. The publicist and I decided email questions would work out best, so I sent mine in. To which I never got a reply. It took about two weeks of me asking [annoying] the publicist to get the answers back to me. I also told him that my deadline was shorter than what it actually was because I knew I would be super busy that week. In the end, it worked out well. http://bit.ly/abE32N

Greek Cast Members
Technically, I guess this was my first in person interview. Two of the characters from the GREEK TV show were the judges at USC Songfest (see above) and the opportunity to talk to them was presented. So why not? They were cool kids, who looked like they wanted to get out of there fast. So it was a rushed/awkward interview. http://bit.ly/97TqnS

Gabriel Iglesias
Fluffy! Ah this was actually my second attempt to interview him. He came to the Wiltern in February and we were scheduled to talk, but he went M.I.A. But I still went to his show @ the Wiltern. We took a picture together after the show and I asked him about the missed interview. He was like, “I called you!” and I was like, “No you didn’t!” So he pulled out his iPhone and showed me that he did in fact call. I was embarrassed.


My brother and I at the Wiltern show

Fluffy on stage at The Wiltern

So when he came to do a show at Hermosa Beach, I made sure that this interview happened. The result, I was disappointed. I think it was because I was expecting him to be “Fluffy” on the interview and he was just a regular guy. But, he was really chill and I wanted to somehow convey that in the article, but I don’t think I did a very good job of it. He said he has a lot of family issues, he actually avoids his siblings and the only person he really keeps contact with is his mom. Yup, just a regular guy.

After the Hermosa show my friend and I cut the line to take a picture with him and I presented him with a six pack of diet coke. (When we were on the phone I told him I would bring him a cake, and he said, “No don’t do that…I get too many. Bring me a pack of diet pepsi and that will get demolished.” So I did). My friend noticed that once I introduced myself, his face changed and his comedian demeanor dropped. He was a regular guy again for that minute.

The next day he text me “Hey thanks for the sodas! They were delicious! :)” Ah!!! HOW COOL AM I??? Eeek, I want to see him perform again soon.
http://bit.ly/9q2Lr5

March Magic

Southern California Business Film Festival
One of a many articles I agreed to write because it was USC related or it was physically close to me. Usually, these are the kinds I regret signing up for, since they usually cause me to stay up until 2am procrastinating. http://bit.ly/cRDELG

EMC Monkeys
Wow, my new best friends. Remember in January I mentioned a boy named Danny Sre? Well when we met, he gave me his phone number and when I got home I looked him up. Turns out, he’s pretty popular in his world. So I figured interviewing his team was worth a shot. And wow, what an experience it was. Since then, I have hung out with EMC a few times, and they are all such…um…well I can’t really say nice since they were picking on me and more so on each other. But they are real. And a blast to hang out with…That’s for sure. http://bit.ly/cmv3pm



Only a handful of the guys at the CollaboXShow (Danny’s to my left)


American Idol Costume Designer: Soyon An
Another wild goose chase to try to get a phoner, After several back and forths with the publicist, Soyon and I finally managed to talk, at about 10:30 pm my time, 1:30 am hers. I was very appreciative for her time…even if it did cut into my sleep. http://bit.ly/dt3eaA

USC’s New President: Max Nikias
We got a new president, I wrote about it. Super boring to write since I just used a press release and Wikipedia as research. Good thing Facebook always brings inspiration. http://bit.ly/brqzXy

The Z Palette
Ah, here is where I learned that no matter what your opinion may be, your superiors have the power to change it without your consent. This is a product review about an awful product called the Z Palette, which is basically an empty makeup palette with a magnetic bottom. Useless if you ask me…in fact, below is my original ending, and here’s the link to the published version http://bit.ly/bfOkkI Tell me what you think and if I have a reason to be a little bit upset.

The Z Palette is a good organizational tool that is supposed to help streamline makeup kits. I’m all for consolidation, but I simply still can’t see the necessity for this extra hardware. Besides, it takes the fun out of buying makeup for how pretty the packaging is. The results, the Z Palette could be worth it if you’re a make-up professional, but for the average Jane looking for some blush and shadow to dab minutes before class, suck it up and stay old-school with a make-up bag.

Annenberg Space for Photography- Water: Our Thirsty World
Oh, this was one of the assignments I agreed to because (I thought) it was somewhat USC affiliated. Turns out, Annenberg was a guy who had SO much money, he has a bunch of foundations all over SoCal, and the space for photography is just one of them. I did get a nice lunch out of it though. http://bit.ly/bQVB2o

USC Trojan Marching Band on Glee
Oh this was exciting to write. I stayed up until about 3 AM the night before it was due talking to Guido about it. He ended up doing a lot of heavy editing for both of our sakes, becasues apparently, had it printed the way I had written it, we both could have been in a lot of trouble. Oh and then if that was not bad enough, I got the premiere date wrong. Whoops. http://bit.ly/dCyYMC

Jeremy Ray Valdez
A slightly painful interview, but only because I felt super awkward talking to him at first. Turns out, he’s a pretty chill guy and was very helpful in helping me get my stories straight. Oh and funny thing happened weeks after this interview happened. He was at USC’s campus and I totally recognized him, except I brushed it off because I thought “Why on earth would he be here at 9 PM on a weeknight?” So I contacted his publicist the next day…yep…it was him.
http://bit.ly/bYMEqy

February Fun

A new month also brought new responsibilities; this is when I started doing SM for Campus. But I won’t post any of that…mainly because you can go to Facebook and look it up yourself

Lucent Lamour
My first promotional piece, and also, first “rave.” I spoke with a publicist and tried to sell the show to students. When I went to the actual show ready for my comped tickets, turns out, I was only listed for one, not plus one. So, instead of turning around and going home, or worse, sending my guest back, I called the publicist I spoke with. He was on site and let us both in. http://bit.ly/aHtyQy



Love is…me in hot pink tights?


Crazy stilt walkers @ Lucent Lamour

Vampire Diaries Costume Designer
My first email interview which was a result of several failed attempts to get a phoner. Boring story, whatevs. http://bit.ly/cspNXK

Brazilian Carnaval
This promotional piece came out in the same issue (I think) as Lucent, so trying to come up with ways to sell another expensive party to college students was difficult. But Patricia, the publicist was nice, and my dad and I enjoyed ourselves. http://bit.ly/cOhdPh Also posted was my photo gallery http://bit.ly/9mDy08


Me with a feathery girl

USC First Generation Mentorship Program
I wrote this article mainly to kiss butt. The head of the program that I was in also was in charge of selecting student to go to Asia for a paid internship. I didn’t get the internship. Oh well, I enjoyed this article and it is one of my most popular ones. My boss was super impressed with this because this was when I first started to take over the SM and he noticed how high my numbers jumped. The secret was to post on my personal FB status that there were USC and UCLA articles right next to each other, and at the time, the UCLA one had more views. Unacceptable. My Trojan Family took care of me, and “viewed” it over a thousand times. http://bit.ly/aoikW7

Carousel Restaurant
What a disaster this piece was. It was my first restaurant review, and to this day, it has been my last. Restaurants are so hard to write about…how many times can you write “delicious” in different ways? Too few. Therefore, a boring article about a place that gave me a huge hassle to work with. http://bit.ly/ajqP7L


At least the food was good

January's Juice

Head Coach Lane Kiffin: USC Football’s Latest Recruit
I pitched my very first article about 15 minutes after I had received the job. In the car on the way back from my interview, I remembered that USC would be hosting a press conference about our new head football coach, Lane Kiffin. So I called up the editor in chief and asked if it was something she thought would be interesting and she was ecstatic about it. So that night after my class, I snuck into the football press conference by lying…true journalism. I told them I was with the Daily Trojan, and after the man had said “We already have about 6 people from the DT in there” I quickly replied, with a bit of attitude I must say, “Yeah, but I was actually assigned to this story.” And he let me in. Teehee, major adrenaline rush. Anyway, here’s a link to the story online: http://bit.ly/b3YaWJ

Jonathan “Legacy” Perez
My first phoner couldn’t have been with a sweeter guy. He was so down to earth and easy to talk to, I thought all phoners would be this way....big fail there. Nonetheless, he was a sweetheart and he actually invited me to see him work one cold February morning on a Stussy shoot. Then I got to see him perform a few weeks later at the CollaboXshow. Still have his number! http://bit.ly/ctj5Zl


Legacy looking at shoes – wardrobe change at the Stussy shoot


Met this guy, Danny Sre, whom I would later interview




Legacy and I at the Collabo Show, months later

Interning for Campus Circle - Intro

Well, I started my Editorial Internship at Campus Circle in January, 2010.

On my resume, my duties include:
•Pitched story topics to Editor-in-Chief, wrote articles, headlines and captions
•Communicated with agencies and interviewed talent
•Copyedited and reviewed page proofs
What they really are:
•Read the entire newspaper the Friday before it goes to print for typos
•Email back and forth a million times with PR agents
•Go to cool shows and talk to awesome people
•Learn how to appropriately brown-nose
•Stay up really late writing articles I wish I hadn’t signed up for

Right after I was hired as an editorial intern, the publisher asked me if I was interested in social media (SM) marketing. Translation = Will you play on Facebook for pay? Um, yes. So I started in February.

Here is what my resume says I did:•Managed CC’s presence on the Internet
•Monitored trends in social media tools and applications and appropriately applied that knowledge to CC
•Measured the impact of social media on the overall marketing efforts
•Applied micro-blogging to promote CC’s current articles
Here is what I actually do:•“Research” new SM methods (aka. Browse Mashable)
•Friend request and follow strangers on FB and Twitter who seem important
•Try to promote USC stuff way more than anything else
•Learn the ins and outs of Google Docs
•Document Link Popularity
•“Reach out” to appropriate SM users and become friends with them
•Learn the most effective way to apply the adage, “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine.”
•Spam links to our articles on our pages
•Create contests and giveaways for fans

In any case, I love my positions at Campus Circle – even though they can get stressful at times.
The rest of my blog will be about things I have done, starting from the beginning going month by month, up until the present point, to which I will probably update weekly.

Cheers!