[cue elevator music]

Ok, good, you’re back. If you followed some of the aftermath in the comments, on Twitter, and on various media outlets and celebrity blogs around the web (including Gawker and Wil Wheaton), you can tell that Jenny obviously has a large amount of supporters who were less than pleased at Jose Douche Canoe Martinez. The outcry got just loud enough that Brandlink Communications actually started to play the wounded bird card:

Apparently Jose Martinez felt so victimized from the whole experience, he actually decided that he needed to delete his entire Twitter account (or, of course, it could be that he was trying to do the internet equivalent of burning the evidence of his douchiness).

Quick side note: if a PR company’s first instinct when they come under fire is to duck and run, and get defensive, as opposed to owning up, making it right, and the moving on, then odds are that same PR company would not hesitate to throw a client under the bus if they felt it was necessary for their own self preservation. Anyone who is researching this company with the possibility of hiring them should probably keep that in mind.

Either way, I guess Jenny didn’t realize quite how much support she would receive, so she wound up actually asking her followers to put away the pitch forks:

UPDATED: I love you people. Really. Thank you for always having my back and for being so supportive during this weirdness. Jose has apologized, and I’ve been assured by the woman in charge of the company that they are aware and are handling it the best way they know how, so let’s give them some air and let them have the chance to do that. *deep breath* – Jenny Lawson, aka TheBloggess

Ok, so, maybe Jenny is right. Maybe some of her fans did get abusive towards Jose in the process of defending her (which, btw, I did not see myself, but I am guessing not everyone was polite) and it is time for us to let cooler heads prevail. However… I also don’t think this should fall just into internet obscurity, either. People who are looking to hire this PR firm should be able to find out who it is they are dealing with, and the first line of defense when doing research on a company is, of course, Google. Currently when you do a search for [brandlink communications], someone else’s post about Brandlink and TheBloggess is #1 (as a news story though, not as a regular listing), Brandlink Communications themselves show up next (which is actually the natural #1 listing, when no news stories show), and in the natural #10 spot is Jenny herself:

(Click to enlarge)

The news piece is of course only there for a short period of time, as all news pieces should be, and the rankings Jenny’s site has currently are probably also due to what Google refers to as QDF, or Query Deserves Freshness (where a particular search might warrant different results due to topic being “hot” at the moment). However, I think that Jenny’s site should be in the top 10 when searching on that company, even after the buzz dies down… possibly even #1. Therefore, here is what I suggest, if you happen to support Jenny in this issue:

1. Write a post showing your support for Jenny about the way she was treated. Don’t attack or “bully” anyone in the post, because despite them being in the wrong here Brandlink was right, bullying people is still wrong (although calling someone a douche canoe when they actually are one is just being descriptive imo)
2. In that post, link to Jenny’s blog post about the conversation, but use the phrase [brandlink communications] as the anchor text for the actual link.
3. If you link to the post more than once, make sure that link is the first link to the post.

For those of you wondering why, it is because links are still the number one factor Google uses when determining rankings. If you want more information on it, you can Google [santorum] and do some research… just don’t click on the first link.

Do I think this is too harsh? Perhaps if they weren’t a PR company boasting W Hotels and Chase as their clients I might be more inclined to go easy on them. However, even if they weren’t big shots treating those they regard as the “little people” like shit, there is also the fact that this behavior is not new for Jose, and there is evidence of him treating people like this all the way back to early 2006. The fact that the same guy is still VP Media Director 5 1/2 years later, still behaving the same way, makes the promises from the company that is “handling it the best way they know how” somewhat hollow. So yes, with that in mind I think that a response like this is quite fitting. Vote with your links, people, as Google intended you to.

In which Taylor says “um”, “like”, talks like a Scotsman, laughs, and sometimes gets excited. Sure, she said lots of other stuff too… but I didn’t include any of it in this video.

Proof that Taylor can make you smile regardless of what she is saying:

I did not change the order or duplicate anything, I just removed the in-between talking parts. You can view the original video here:

YouTube Presents Taylor Swift

From a technical standpoint probably the hardest part was getting the “ums” separated from the surrounding words, due to the fact that often Taylor speaks quickly in this interview, and some of the words ran together. For instance, many of the “and um” combinations kept coming out as “dumb” when I tried to isolate them, although I think in the end I did a decent job of pulling them all out. I did wind up missing a few I just couldn’t get though.

On a side note, I was looking at some of the comments on the original video, and I was shocked to see that there are some downright Taylor Swift haters out there. I honestly don’t get it. I am not referring to the “oh, I really don’t like her music” type of people, but rather people who what I can only assume are completely consumed by self loathing posting some seriously ugly stuff. Just a heads up in case anyone of that genre finds their way here or comments on the original video, I will simply delete anything that appears to be hate driven from the comments. This video is in no way meant to make fun of Taylor. Many people talk this way, and the interviewer was just as bad.

When the tsunami hit I was a little freaked out until I heard from him that he was ok. Then the issues started to happen with the nuclear reactors and I and a few other people started to worry again. On Thursday, March 17th I saw this on Facebook:

we are being evacuated. i should be stateside by tuesday. they’ll put us to work at base schools somewhere, not sure where. don’t know if or when i’ll be back in japan. it’s possible i’ll never see the contents of my home again, and i can only bring 1 suitcase. imagine that.

Myself and everyone that knows him was so relieved, until the next day:

teachers are being told we are “essential personnel” and therefore NOT part of the voluntary evacuation. we have no idea what’s going on. but for now, i am safe and warm.

I was like, wtf? Essential to what? Why the hell would they force the teachers to stay behind? What’s more, it looks like families of military personnel have a better chance of bringing their pets than the teachers have of getting out of there:

The teachers of our military families’ children on military bases in Japan are not being allowed to evacuate with everyone else! Schools on the bases are closed, but their jobs are being threatened if they leave on their own. Meanwhile, evacuees can bring 2 pets.

From the Stars and Stripes story, “Navy posts Q&A about ongoing voluntary departure in Japan”:

“Horses, fish, birds, and rodents are not authorized transportation.” – nor, apparently, are teachers.

I don’t get it. I also don’t get why, as far as I can tell, Stars and Stripes is the only one talking about this:

No CNN, no New York Times, no Washington Post, no Huffington Post, no BBC even… no one seems to want to carry this story. Why?

My prayers go out to everyone in Japan right now, but especially to those who are being told they are not allowed to leave.

(Click to enlarge.)

For those who can’t read it, it’s from http://twitter.com/scientology, and states:

Sorry, the profile you were trying to view has been suspended due to strange activity.

Yeah, like that’s a surprise!

I also understand that sometimes people don’t want to use their real names when having discussions on the web. Most, in fact, go by some handle or another the majority of the time. When they do they usually use it pretty much everywhere, but if they like to switch it up for some reason or another here and there, or use another when commenting on this blog, well, that’s ok too.

Every once in a while there is someone who comes along who doesn’t even want their real IP known when commenting on this blog. Not sure why, since I am actually the only one who sees anyones IP address, but hey, to each his own paranoia… right?

Things on the web can get heated. It’s a fact. This blog is called Smackdown, and whatayaknow… they get heated here as well too. Occasionally people want to post things here that might have a somewhat angry tone. In general I am even ok with that, to an extent.

And, of course, not every comment on this blog is going to come from people with above average IQ’s or tons of experience. That’s just the nature of the web. People are people, and deserve a voice regardless of education or how closely their parents were related before getting married.

However…

If you’re going to post an abusive comment towards another commenter on this blog that is off topic, has to do with a fight that started somewhere other than here, use a fake name, a fake email, hide your IP through a proxy, and post shit that on top of all that makes you simply look like you have the IQ of a turnip, then of course I will not approve your idiotic ranting comment. I have no interest in people commenting here who are abusive, pussies, and fucking morons all at the same time, tyvm.

If you feel this was directed towards you, and it makes you irate, well, then… it probably was.

Peace out, y’all.