DMS Content: Enriching Lives, Ruining My Favorite Flicks

Plot narratives – unless highly cerebral or well… boring, hinge upon conflict. Conflicts big and small are what entertain and watching characters resolve aforementioned conflicts is what bonds us to them. Some of my very favorite films and characters go through substantial messiness to conquer their unique breed of conflict: Harry and Sally realize that, despite their best efforts, men and women can’t be just friends – oh and that they love each other in When Harry Met Sally; Entrepreneur, John Hammond learns that bringing prehistoric creatures back to life, to live in a theme park was one of his less responsible business ventures in Jurassic Park; Jerry Lundegaard, poor guy, realizes that he not only can’t sell cars, but is unable to execute the fake kidnapping of his own wife in Fargo. Conflict – this is the stuff. It’s the same stuff that keeps sites like LIVESTRONG.COM and eHow in business. After all, we’re answering questions and providing solutions to life’s conflicts.

Big Screen, Bad Grammar

They say that movies are made in the editing room. Unfortunately it seems movie posters are not given equal attention — at least from an editorial standpoint. The Huffington Post recently published a list of movie titles that feature some pretty egregious grammatical errors — and we’re not just talking in their subheads or plot summaries — we’re talking in the title itself!

Here are a few of our favorites.

What’s Your Niche? Sports

I’ve written about niche journalism before; essentially remarking on the relative newness of the concept and the importance for writers to carve out a unique space in which to become expert. After searching around the interwebs a bit, I realized that what is happening today with niche journalism is more of a revival than a revolution — especially in the realm of sports writing.

Where the Writers Are: Homes of Writers We Love

Whether lounging by the beach, pool, lake or air conditioning unit, avid readers likely have a book in hand at all times. That’s one of the perks of sweltering summers: extra time for languid afternoons and books. Then again, summer is also about vacationing and taking full advantage of those long weekends. This got me thinking and led me to the conclusion that the best way to embrace both perks of summer (reading and vacation) was to visit the homes of beloved bygone authors. Here are just a few of the homes you could visit this summer. If you’d like to search by state or author, visit Writers Houses: Where Stories Live for a seriously comprehensive list!

Today’s Storytelling: An Act of Interaction

Photo Credit: BrandingStrategy.com

Technology, heightened communication and non-stop media socializing is changing the way we do most everything. The saying, “If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, did it really make a sound?” made sense at at certain point in time. Today, however, it might be more apropos to ask, “If something — anything — happens and it isn’t promptly Tweeted, Facebooked or Instagrammed, did it like, really actually happen?”

Less philosophical to be sure, but it seems that’s where we’re headed. Even storytellers, who traditionally write from their own pool of creative genius, are now turning to face their audience and ask quite unconventionally: What do you want?

The World Cup: A Global Marketplace

Unless you’ve been in a coma for the past two weeks you’re probably well aware that the globe’s biggest soccer tournament, or football depending on where you’re from or what team you’re rooting for, is under way. The FIFA World Cup, this year hosted by Brazil with games being played in 12 different cities, has the world talking — and not just about penalty kicks. Money as it turns out is one of the biggest players in this year’s games.

There been serious criticism of Brazil’s preparation and spending for this year’s event, which is the most expensive in history. According to NBC news, the country has spent an estimated 11.5 billion dollars gearing up for the tournament. But, as global games go, its not just Brazil’s moolah the world is watching. CNBC.com broke down the overall economic impact of the World Cub in this handy inforgraphic below. Check out more like it here.

Credit: CNBC

Funny Ladies

Female comedians are everywhere: On television, on the big screen and even on bookshelves — or your tablet should you be enlightened to this era’s technological devices.

Familiar funny lady figures Tina Fey, Chelsea Handler, Kelly Oxford, Ellen DeGeneres and Mindy Kaling have already put hilarious memoirs and musings into the world with uniquely female and furiously funny voices — all of which landed on the best-sellers list for at least a month. This October, Amy Poehler and Lenah Dunham are set to join them with releases of their very own.

Amy Poehler’s memoir called, “Yes Please,” chronicles the SNL alum and Parks and Recreation star’s life and includes anecdotes on  friendship, love and parenting — but done in a really funny way, of course. Want to see the book’s reveal? Check this out.

In true millenial fashion, Lena Dunham revealed the title, cover and release date of her forthcoming memoir, “Not That Kind of Girl,” via Instagram. Little is known about what wisdom Dunham shares in the pages of her literary debut, but I’ll admit I can’t wait to find out.

Can’t wait until October to get your funny lady fix? Check these out:

Everything is Perfect When You’re a Liar, Kelly Oxford

We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy, Yael Kohen

I Was Told There’d Be Cake, Sloane Crosley

Bossypants, Tina Fey

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? Mindy Kaling

Claire & Jenny’s Format Frenzy: The Listicle

It’s full speed ahead here at the offices–we’re finally starting to see renovated content populate eHow! (cue the applause). While you’re busy evaluating, editing, and writing we’ve been cooking up a few ideas behind-closed-doors.

One way we’re adding a wow factor to these renovated works is by exploring new types of engaging content formats. Claire and I are so excited about these formats that we decided to embrace our fandom and produce a series of posts dedicated to everything formats — we’ve dubbed it “Format Frenzy.” In these posts, we’ll outline one of the new formats you might see (if all goes according to plan), and provide examples of some great work!

So without further ado, may I introduce THE LISTICLE.

What is a Listicle?

A listicle is an engaging format that takes ONE central idea and expands said idea into a “list” of related content. So, instead of producing one article on, “How to Make Garland,” a listicle would address the title with, “How to Make Garland: 7 Unforgettable Garland Ideas.”

What sections utilize the listicle format?

We’re hoping to bring listicles to sections like Arts & Crafts, Food, Garden, and Home Decor. We’ll let you know if more sections get the green light.

Who came up with name “listicle”?

It’s hard to believe, but this is a real industry term. Don’t trust me? Check this out!

What does an eHow listicle look like?

Here’s a mock-up of what our listicle content will potentially look like! Gorgeous, right?

 

Read It vs. Watch It

People may not read much these days, but they certainly watch movies based on books. It’s not just huge series franchises like “Harry Potter” or “The Hunger Games” either — some of the flicks making their big screen debut in the coming months are based on classics and lesser known lit. Here are a few of the books-turned-films we’re excited about.

• What: The Fault of Our Stars
• Author: John Green
• Movie Release Date: June 6

Plot Summary: A coming of age romance about a girl with cancer who falls for a fellow cancer patient. Check out the trailer here.

• What: The Hundred-Foot Journey
• Author: Richard C. Morais
• Movie Release Date: August 8

Plot Summary: An Indian family moves to France and opens a restaurant only to find out that right across the street is a Michelin-starred French resto — family drama and lots of yummy food ensues.

• What: The Giver
• Author: Lois Lowry
• Movie Release Date: August 15

Plot Summary: A young boy is given the duty of being the “receiver of memory,” a job that entails keeping all of society’s memories. As he learns of his new task from his predecessor however, he begins to question the role and many other things.

What the BLEEP?!?

All of our lives we’ve been taught that swearing is wrong, unseemly and certainly something that should be kept out of the workplace. As of late that time honored decree has been challenged by the journalism community. Lowbrow and highbrow publications alike are using expletives in place of more florid descriptors. The “American Journalism Review” noted this trend in their article, “Watch Your Language: Swearing in News Stories,” and examined why and what this movement means for journalists and journalism on the whole.

Here are some of the article’s highlights if you’re not in the mood for a deep dive:

1. BuzzFeed.com released their very own style guide, which includes some stylistically perfected swear words.

2. The New York Times is getting on board with profanity. They updated their notoriously proper (I mean, it’s the NYTimes after all!) style guide to allow for the use of profanity — you know, when it was like, absolutely necessary.

3. Even the Associated Press aren’t batting eyelashes over the potty mouths that make up today’s pool of competent journalists. AP Editor, Tom Kent said, “Society evolves – and news organizations evolve with it,” Kent said. “The AP has evolved. A decade or two ago, we tried very hard to avoid using the word ‘hell’ if we didn’t have to. I think we’ve moved beyond that now. And five years from now, lord knows what we’ll be saying.” Who knows is right, Kent.

What do you think? Should profanity go mainstream? Do expletives have their place in content?