Former video blogging sensation-cum-mainstream media flop, Amanda Congdon is now working with indie production studio Media Rights Capital to produce new web video series. Because while TV cameras add 10 pounds, web cameras add 10 pounds to your chest. [NYT] CONTINUED »
Amanda Congdon, whose anchorship of web news broadcast Rocketboom turned her into the posterchild of all that Web 2.0 can be, quickly sullied her career by abandoning her crunchy gig and heading to ABC News, where she turned out unwatchable (and, thus, unwatched) video news reports and quickly left. She had a deal at HBO that seemed to go nowhere, but she did sign up to do commercials with American Express, so that's something.
But now she's back with Sometimesdaily, described as "an off-beat, interactive variety show exploring life's themes through the inquisitive eyes of Amanda Congdon," and she's trying to get you interested with this hopefully-viral video promo. So far it's only been seen just over 9,000 times in five days, so won't you help add to her view count? CONTINUED »
• Britney Spears' bodyguard is almost as ginormous as we thought he'd be, but what he lacks in girth he makes up for in sheer bitterness.
• ABC bids a tearful farewell to Amanda Congdon, opting not to renew her contract despite Congdon's earning a "double-d" for determination and bringing whole new meaning to the term "boob tube."
• Matt Drudge is possibly a closeted homosexual, definitely someone whose pick-up lines need some work.
• Barack Obama is great at telling us what's on his iPod, not so great at telling us about his thoughts on education, healthcare or social security.
• ABC confirms what we already knew by publicly admitting that Amanda Congdon's not really a "journalist."
• Forbes to start their own version of "Business Vogue." Experts predict it will be a lot like Portfolio, except for frumpier women. With spectacles!
• Conrad Black evidently sent out emails bitching about having to work pro bono. Then he embezzled $60 million.
• The L.A. Times opinion editor quits over some sort of embarrassing sex scandal, and Brian Grazer is (probably) to blame.
• Page Six trumpets the romance between Katie Coric and not-exactly-starving musician, Chris Botti. (Rumor has it, he's got "jazz-hands!")
• Teen Vogue sales soar because of Lauren Conrad's tv internship. Or else maybe it's because all the other teen mags have folded. Like, literally, all of them.
• ABC says Amanda Congdon is not subject to the rules traditional journalists have to follow. Because she's a freelancer. With a really nice rack. And a totally creepy disembodied hand!
• Hassan Elmasry: he's angling to spend a fortune acquiring the New York Times, so why won't he shell out for a trial-size bottle of Rogaine?
• Conde Nast staffers are sworn to secrecy about that upcoming Portfolio venture nobody's heard anything about.
• The Guardian does not like Lord Conrad Black of Crossharbour. It does not like him at all.
• Arnold Scaasi is making a pink satin dress for all three readers of Q magazine.
• "If the 2008 presidential election were held on YouTube, Barack Obama would win in a landslide," says the AP via USAT. "It's not 1984 or 2004, it's 2008," observes the Washington Post.
We know what you've been hoping for before you head off into your holiday slumber of egg nog and Tickle, Molest, And Call Me Your Daddy Elmos: More Amanda Congdon news.
Lucky you, Santa came early this year and brought with you two enormous, uh, domain names. The first is Blip.tv — that's the webcasting service that Amanda just signed a deal with to produce her own web show. The second is StarringAmandaCongdon.com — that's the homepage for her show and, even if you do have the reasoning capacity of Carmelo Anthony, you can probably figure out what it's all about. Not that the website is really working or anything.
Yep, the HBO deal-signer and ABC News Now vlog host is now porting herself over to an entirely unfamiliar environment: acting cute and informed in front of a camera with at least half her audience keeping her on mute and pulling out the Lubriderm.
Jossip's Reality Television, YouTube, and Everything Really Really Jewish resident correspondent Shmuel Tennenhaus has already rapped about a BellSouth merger and defended ex-Jossiper Corynne Steindler, so how is he to top himself? By unofficially auditioning to become the next Amanda Congdon. News site somethingorother Now Republic is asking various, shall we say, Internet personalities to submit a 45-60 second tryout clip showing why they deserve to get their own show on ABC News Now, otherwise known as "the 24-hour cable news network you'll never be able to find unless you have a broadband Sprint phone and the patience to navigate 16 menu screens." Never one to let guidelines get in the way of a promising future, Shmuel submits his 7-minute audition.
It's a real winner. And winning is painful.
Now that former Rocketboomer Amanda Congdon is on ABC – well, sorta; she's only on ABCNews.com and the network's Internet-only cable news channel – she's getting the Virginia Heffernan treatment, usually reserved for, oh, we don't know .. actual persons of interest.
Now in the warm embrace of the mainstream media, this onetime indie figure is making online video segments on eclectic subjects. And ABC is meanwhile promising its groovy young girlfriend that she won’t have change a bit, even for corporate events: no first-lady suits, no hot-roller hair, no mannequin makeup. Ever. On her first minishow, which became available yesterday on ABC’s Web site, Ms. Congdon shows up in a taut Steely Dan T-shirt and opens with her trademark girly casualness: “O.K., this is weird.”
What's the weird part? That Barbara Walters has allowed a younger, hotter, blonder chick to become a rising star on her network, or that ABC knows how far a pair of good boobies go?
• Amanda Congdon resurfaces on ABC's Internet-only news network with a show name errily familiar to Anderson Cooper's.
• Fox beats Yahoo at its own game.
• Plot your way through Nicole Richie's DUI.
• OK! and In Touch run out of original ideas at the same time.
• Princess Diana's royal offspring line up 10th anniversary memorial concert.
• The very syndicated game shows we watch turn out to be the only November sweeps winners.
• AP cameraman Aswan Ahmed Lutfallah gets in the way of Iraq's civil war.
• It's ShopVogue.com for every magazine.
• Shar Jackson and Jason Alexander help say goodbye to Spederline.
• Judy? We're worried about you, too.
• Britney? Don't let anyone tell you that you're not worth three-figures.
• Nick Denton gets spanked, didn't even need Match.com profile to arrange it.
• Ex-Rocketboomer Amanda Congdon's HBO deal is followed up by an ABC gig, 'cause everyone needs Mickey Mouse's floppy ears to follow mob boss ties.
• Fox News' Neil Cavuto has the type of faith in the U.S. auto industry as he does in President Bush: blind.
• Radar can't bear to whisper the New York Post's name.
• NYT op-ed columnist John Tierney says goodbye, but you didn't read it, 'cause you don't pay for TimesSelect.
• GQ bitch fight — over food. It's on.
Could it be? The most successful experiment in vlogging suddenly shut down without warning? The vlog that snagged $40,000 in its eBay advertising auction, gone? And DMCA Infringment Notifications had nothing to do with it? There's tumult and turmoil (we've been dying to say that for a while) at Rocketboom, where Amanda Congdon held court over the day's news with NY1-quality graphics and camera tricks. But as the public notice on Rocketboom's homepage will tell you, Amanda has gone Hollywood. Yep, seems she's gotten offers around town and now she's grown too big for the Boomers. She's probably all fancy now and has an agent, manager, TV series pilot, book deal, and fragrance on the way. She doesn't give that away in the video announcement (above) she produced herself and posted yesterday, but you just know she's sipping Krug with Danny Masterson right about now.
Amanda Congdon has decided to move to L.A. to pursue opportunities that have arisen for her in Hollywood.
We wanted to meet her demands to move production out to L.A., however, we are a small company and have not been able to figure out a way to make it work, financially and in many other ways at this time. While we continue to remain with open arms, Amanda has in fact quit and left Rocketboom. So sadly, we bid Amanda adieu and wish her all the best.
Rocketboom goes on.
Andrew Baron, the founder and creator of Rocketboom, will stay with the company in New York and will continue to produce and direct the show. We are in the daunting process of recruiting a replacement for Amanda.
While Amanda will be sorely missed, we have big plans for Rocketboom and are determined to make the show better than ever.
After Field Week and a week on hiatus, we know that you are hungry for the news! Rocketboom will be back with a news episode and an interim host this MONDAY, JULY 10.
Amanda, meanwhile, will soldier on in L.A.-L.A. land with her 49 percent stake in Rocketboom, while former producing partner Andrew Michael Baron will continue on once he finds new talent. Hey Andrew: We hear Star Jones isn't hosting anything these days.
