Rebecca Black’s Dark Horse “Friday” Song Keeps Getting Bigger

Just when you thought that it couldn’t get any bigger, it did. Just when you thought that it was just 15 minutes of fame, it took a left turn and grew into a national phenomenon. Just when you thought that the term “Thank God It’s Friday,” or “T.G.I.F.,” had sole reign on the best day of the week, think again.

Enter Rebecca Black and her dark horse party tune, “Friday:”

Official Rebecca Black "Friday" video on YouTube

Only three weeks ago, Rebecca Black was an unknown 13-year old girl with a dream of musical fame. Little did she know that a scathing review of her song would raise her from obscurity and turn her into a household name. The unrelenting criticism of her trite lyrics and the jarring Auto Tune vocal effects added fuel to the fire.

And what a fire it was. As the flame grew hotter, it turned into a wildfire… a viral phenomenon… a Brainworm™.

A Brainworm™ is a viral parasite that’s virtual in nature. It can begin as an innocent ditty that propagates into a song that you cannot get out of your head. Like it or not, “Friday” and its cheesy hook snagged us all.

Even the late night talk show hosts weren’t excluded from Black’s allure. She was featured on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” where she describes her rapid rise to fame–first tears and now joy:

Rebecca Black appears on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno on March 22, 2011

Furthering the proof that the Brainworm™ was propagating, Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert sang a hiliarious rendition of “Friday” to raise money for DonersChoose.org. Although the heralded event took place on April 1st, it was no joke. They raised more than twice their goal and reproduced the song in a huge production filled with balloons, confetti, a beekeeper and a Yeti. Even Taylor Hicks chimed in with true soul:

Stephen Colbert sings "Friday" with The Roots on Late Night with "Jimmy Fallon"

According to Wikipedia, Black says that she will be working on her debut album and is being courted by songwriters and record companies. With better songs, Rebecca Black can sell records. She now has the name recognition which is 99.99% of the battle to mainstream success.

It began virally with a “bad” song. Virally it has reached immortality. Congratulations Rebecca Black to your new found success!

Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_black

http://www.rebeccablackonline.com/

http://twitter.com/msrebeccablack

 

Hey Charlie Sheen, Who’s Winning Now?

Charlie Sheen: "I'm a winner"

It was reported on Monday that actor Charlie Sheen was fired from “Two and a Half Men.” As seen from his rants over the weekend, Charlie has provided plenty of fodder for late night comedians, Saturday Night Live, posts on Twitter and Facebook and also covered extensively by the mainstream media.

Charlie has positioned himself as a “winner” in a recent ABC News interview. Considering the recent events of his firing, is he really a winner? I don’t think so.

So who wins in this Charlie Sheen debacle? Is it CBS? No. Is it Charlie Sheen? No. What about the production crew, writers and staff members that work every week on the production of “Two and a Half Men?” No, everybody loses.

Well, let me take that back. The only group that wins are late night comedians talk shows and other entertainment specialist covering this Charlie Sheen debacle.

This blog post was dictated using the free Dragon Dictation on iPhone app.

 

12 Days of Memorable Christmas Movie Lines

In the spirit of the 12 Days of Christmas,” today’s article will list 12 memorable Christmas movie lines. From the quotes below, see if you can guess the names of these movies. The answers are placed at the bottom.

1. Buddy the Elf… what’s your favorite color? (This one should be easy)
2. Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.
3. The best way to spread Christmas Cheer, is singing loud for all to hear.
4. I TRIPLE-dog-dare ya!
5. We’ve been given our parts in the Nativity play. And I’m the lobster.
6. God bless us all, everyone.
7. Is this toothbrush approved by the American Dental Association?
8. She looks like my third grade teacher, and I hated my third grade teacher… wait a minute, she IS my third grade teacher!
9. I’m as old as my tongue and a little older than my teeth.
10. Bee sting. Evidently I’m allergic. It almost killed me. But, the guy at the Emergency Room said that eventually the swelling will go down. I hope.
11. You want the moon? Just say the word and I’ll throw a lasso around it and pull it down.
12. I’m the worst toy-maker in the world. I’m a Cotton-Headed Ninnymuggins!

Answers:

1–Elf; 2–It’s a Wonderful Life; 3–Elf; 4–A Christmas Story; 5–Love, Actually; 6–A Christmas Carol; 7–Home Alone 8–Sleepless in Seattle; 9–Miracle on 34^th Street; 10–The Santa Clause; 11–It’s a Wonderful Life; 12–Elf

How did you score?

1-5 Correct: Time to go to Blockbuster and check out some of the best Christmas movies.

6-8 Correct: You probably hadn’t seen Elf, yet. Pour yourself a cup of the World’s Best Coffee and watch Will Ferrell deliver dozens of memorable lines. (This movie will probably be Ferrell’s most famous movie 50 years from now. Also, the World’s Best Cup of Coffee is referenced twice in the movie.)

9-10 Correct: You are a Christmas movie buff! You deserve a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows while you’re watching another movie tonight.

11-12 Correct: You should work with Roger Ebert! Two thumbs up for you!

Merry Christmas!

 

What is a Brainworm™?

Hi everyone and welcome to the first installment of Brainworms and The Buzz™. My name is John Weeden, a marketing communications professional in beautiful Orlando, Florida. I love TV, movies, music, advertising and social media with a penchant for all things “Brainworm™.”

So what is a Brainworm™? Funny you should ask.

First, I’ll begin by telling you what it is not. It’s not blatant like a gory horror flick. It’s not a tacky used car lot commercial with some guy—probably the car lot owner himself—yelling at you. (On a side note, why do they buy into the notion of “no yell, no sell” anyways? It’s annoying, but sometimes it works; but I’ll save that topic for another day.) A Brainworm™ is not Ashton Kutcher leading a pack of lemmings in the quest to garner the most Twitter followers.

A Brainworm™

A Brainworm™ is a viral parasite that’s virtual in nature. It begins in a miniscule form and looks for brains to feed upon. In a subtle, quintessential “Brainworm™” manner, it begins to grow. It feeds on its host with the purpose of propagating. A mild Brainworm™ will spread to a few hundred people. A good Brainworm™ will spread to thousands. A great Brainworm™ of epidemic proportions will spread to millions and be all of the rage.

Have you ever heard a tune and could never get it out of your head? Some bonehead in your office whistles the theme to “The Flintstones” and you’re stuck in a feedback loop for hours. That’s a Brainworm™.

This blog, titled Brainworms and The Buzz™, will be the rants and raves of all that I find memorable. At a minimum, it will be like “the good, the bad and the totally-get-out-of-my-face ugly.” Sometimes the blog will have a direct purpose. Other times it will be just me, furiously typing away on meaningless trivia. My hope is that you find this blog to be entertaining, inspiring, and most of all memorable. I would welcome the thought of getting to know each of you, in person, or over the ever-expanding social media universe.

Thinking of you.

John