Pitching lifestyle magazines and Marie Claire denial
I attended a Bulldog Reporter Media Relations 2006 class called "How to get featured in leading lifestyle magazines" on Tuesday afternoon. Held at the Marriott Marquee in Times Square the Q&A panel with lifestyle editors from Shape, Fitness, Essence and Marie Claire were on hand to provide insight. I was hoping the class would be useful for getting my two new female orientated and consumer driven clients covered by major lifestyle publications. Unfortunately it was unhelpful.

It wasn't that the editors weren't trying to be helpful to us "PR flacks" but I didn't learn anything that I didn't already know from pitching my own stories to editors during graduate school. They also didn't have a grasp on what public relations really is and what we do. The rest of their advice was common sense too since each editor said that PR people should check their outdated, unimaginative and unhelpful editorial calendars online and that we should pitch something "new"--no shit. Something "new," hmm why did I not think a reporter would want to cover something new before?

The panel did highlight that they are more likely to respond to pitches that are specific and that they are not interested in general briefings but rather are interested in hearing something in particular--something new. Plus they recommended using clear subject lines in emails and not jokes or "cute" or vague titles like "Not an average press release."

The editors also mentioned that they are more responsive to freshly presented information in new ways. Thus sending nicknack's or a sample of your actual product can help keep you at the top of their minds since they will see the items in their office. However, that doesn't help for my clients who have websites and not a physical product outside of their sites. Unless we whip up some chatski with their URL on it. Such bribery, *sigh*. It does work though, I fell for it often enough when I was assigning/covering stories.

A helpful but another obvious tip that they recommended is to think seasonally and about the trends that occur during the months, IE they typically cover weight loss in June and July since it's swim suit time as well as in January after the holiday feasting. However, although it's only April now most of them are already thinking about their Fall issues and back to school. Thus, planning ahead for long leads is important.

Away from pitching, Marie Claire's Senior Editor Julia Savacool, who was on the panel, kept telling the audience that her publication's readers are activists and that she's only interested in receiving information regarding "hard-hitting" global, social issues important to women, non profit organizations, diseases in Africa and so on. Activists? I was soo tempted to raise my hand and say, "I'm sorry but are we reading the same magazine?" I didn't want to be rude though. I'm holding May's issue of Marie Claire right now, which is dubbed "The Hair Issue" and highlights (no pun intended) include "20 Best Cuts for Your Face Shape," "Your Best Body By Summer," "Celeb Gossip: Why You Need More! More! More!" and a bonus pull-out haircut guide. Hmm very hard hitting, trumps illegal immigration any day.

Don't get me wrong I'm a subscriber, you can't beat thier subscription offer of $1 an issue, but when I think Marie Claire I think of it as a pretty fashion/female magazine and turn to my copies of Newsweek, New York Magazine, Vanity Fair or even Redbook before MC for more hard hitting articles. I'm not saying it's Shop magazine, but when I think of female activists I do not picture them carrying around an issue of Marie Claire in their recyclable made back packs.

Neverwas
Yesterday night my friend Angela and her friend from Miami also named Tara (although she says it like Tare-a piece of paper) and I went to an advanced screening of Neverwas on the 5th day of the GenArt Film Festival. The sentimental drama is an independent film with a big picture cast and a polished artsy feel, evoking the very fairy tale imagery, which the story is centered around.

A psychiatrist, Zach Riley, played by Aaron Eckhart (Thank You for Smoking), leaves an academic career to work at an institution where his father (Nick Nolte), a novelist of a renowned children's book called Neverwas, lived during different periods of his life while suffering from manic depression. At the hospital Zach encounters a schizophrenic (Ian McKellen) named Gabriel, who believes he is a real character from Neverwas and that the story is real. Desiring to understand both the book and the man, Zach becomes obsessed with finding out more about how his father lived out his final years. With the help of this delusional patient and a childhood friend's (Brittany Murphy) obsession with the fairytale helps Zach to discover the stories' secrets and his own place in the fantasy world created by his father. As he digs deeper and becomes closer to Gabriel it causes him to reevaluate his own childhood and wonder, what if Neverwas really exists? William Hurt also stars as the hospital's head doctor and Jessica Lange plays Zach's widowed mother. You can read my full review on Film School Rejects.

Eckhart was supposed to be at the after party at Embassy but was delayed due to filming somewhere else in the city on another project. Cold Stone Creamery was there to give out cups of their ice cream and luckily the Birthday Remix was on hand, it's my fav, yum. The photo takers Joonbug were there as usual snapping photos, here are three photos they took of us, which are now on their site. When the guy was taking the photos we were right near the bar and it was so crowded that he was flashing in and around heads that were bobbing by, thus me laughing in one photo. Angela, in the middle, is my childhood friend who is now pursuing a modeling career. I'm her self proclaimed publicist so please contact me if you have work for her ;)


PS: I didn't win the lotto yesterday, surprise surprise right? Actually it's fitting since my dad never won much either.

My Philadelphia Story
I feel like my blog is fastly becoming a travel blog as of late, since now I'm gonna share some highlights from my recent impromptu trip to Philadelphia on Saturday and Sunday.

It's only a 2 hour trip from NYC by car and neither my traveling partner nor I had been to the city of brotherly love before. It was indeed a friendly city and perfect for a quick weekend adventure. Unfortunately the weather on Saturday didn't want to cooperate so we spent the day trying to keep dry at the National Constitution Center seeing the Benjamin Franklin: In Search of A Better World exhibit that's running until April 30th, which was really very interesting especially when the fire alarm went off and the whole place had to evacuate and go back out into the rain. The center included the first public printing of the Constitution in a Philly newspaper plus lots of actual Ben Franklin artifacts, manuscripts and portraits.

We stayed at The Latham Hotel in downtown near all the fancy shops, ate at the yummy and fashionable Continental (much like a larger Cafeteria that's in Manhattan) and drank mojitos and did some salsa and meringue out on the dance floor at Cuba Libre. They had two professional dancers dance first and during the applause a guy near me at the bar asked, "Do you dance?" Pointing to the impressive couple on the dance floor, I was like, "Not like that!" Although I haven't had any lessons, except the steps my friend's husband Eddy showed me one time, I think I managed to hold my own, well, either way it was fun as was the place.

The next day was much nicer and sunnier so we got to see more of the city outside the mall and hit all the tourist highlights. Saw the famous Liberty Bell (smaller than I thought it would be), ran up the Rocky steps, received palms at Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, saw the Delaware River and the LOVE sculpture, rode the metro and bus and of course ate a cheese steak from Pats (so yummy, cheesy, greasy--I'm still full).

Here I am thinking I'm a Rocky-ette and a photo of the museum steps:


Some personal conclusions on the city: small streets, friendly people, scary alleyways, lots of fountains--actually the city seems fountain obsessed really, quaint buildings, lots of history and "benergy," pretty quiet for a city, not too many people and there's a reason why they are called 'Philly' cheese steaks and it's well deserved.
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On a sadder note, today would have been my Dad's 52nd birthday. In honor of his bday and lotto affection/addiction (he'd spend 20 bucks a day playing the numbers) I'm gonna play 410 today in NY's Lotto.

A weighty issue
Among my girls there seems to be varying opinions on whether or not you loose or gain weight when starting a new relationship.

There's the common idea that new lovers are too in love to eat (um haven't had that happen) and there is also the idea that someone is now seeing you naked so that makes you keep in shape (been there), thus at a start of a relationship you are at your best.

I was just watching a rerun of Frasier and Daphne Moon tells the Cranes that she's already experiencing the 3 signs of being in love, she says, "I'm not eating, I find myself thinking about him all the time and buying new underwear." :)

My friend though, pointed out the flip side by saying that when you're dating you are eating out all the time and or drinking. Thus, you're actually gaining weight because you're happy and don't care about mundane things like working out or have the time to fit going to the gym in your even busier schedule. There's also the bedroom activities that can help work up an appetite, but then again you're also burning calories too. I guess the debate continues. What do you think?

Toga Girl # 8
Just got back from three days of sun and fun, definitely accomplished my main goal of getting a tan and relaxing. The hotel room was pretty dated, no carpets, the bare minimum, but the beach made up for any hotel lackings. The crowd was a little too spring breaky for us too, but whatcha gonna do? There was even a bunch of high school kids, which I think is crazy. We did meet a group of 30 firemen from Long Island who were there celebrating their station's 100th anniversary. We then spent the rest of the weekend avoiding one of the guys. He was nice and all, but I wasn't interested, I also suspect he was at least a year younger than me.

OK I lied I don't have any videos for you, I never got around to taking any or bringing out my video camera during the trip. I guess what happens in Nassau is going to stay in Nassau. To fill you in though, I went snorkeling, played volleyball, read After the Night, won some games of pool, got my hair braided, went snorkeling, did Karaoke and went on their stage to take place in a toga competition. Neither of us won, mainly because my friend and I didn't have a group of friends to cheer us on like the others did, but how often do you get a chance to wear a toga? See photos below:


Away from the trip... I had helped get my Step dad and his company in the following New England Magazine article, which is a section of the Hartford Courant. The article, Don't Blow Your Millions, ran yesterday when I got back from vacation.

Review: My latest film review at Film School Rejects is now up, it's on the teen comedy She's The Man.