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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Palin Nears One Million Facebook Fans, While Lagging on Twitter

palinfb

Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is certainly giving her Facebook fan page a workout this week, as she nears one million fans.

Using the site to flack her new book, “Going Rogue,” which comes out officially today, it got a big boost from her interview today with Oprah Winfrey, clocking in at close to 995,000 fans last night.

In comparison, her Twitter page was as empty of followers as the great outdoors.

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Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Viral Video: “Rocket Man” Shatner Channels “Maverick” Palin (Watch Out, Tina Fey!)

rocketner

In a genius pairing of subject and artist, here is the best online viral video this week from Conan O’Brien’s “Tonight Show,” featuring actor William Shatner reciting outgoing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s recent farewell speech verbatim.

You simply can’t make this stuff up.

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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving From ATD

Our friends at JibJab whipped up another odd video for us for the Thanksgiving holidays.

BoomTown is thankful for our great All Things D staff, as well as our amazing readers. Also this year, for Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, without whom there would be no news.

We’ll be publishing more lightly after tonight, but there will still be news over the holiday, so keep checking back for posts all weekend long.

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Monday, November 24, 2008

Sarah Palin’s Dead Turkey Interview

How much do I love the Internet?

Muchety-much after seeing this interview that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin gave plastered all over the Web, in which the former Republican VP candidate gives a local Anchorage television station an interview as a Thanksgiving turkey is being slaughtered right behind her.

Still, ever the trouper (and sanguine hunter, it seems), Palin obliviously keeps up the turkey patter, having just “pardoned” another turkey earlier.

Such is fowl fate.

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Digital Signpost Up Ahead? You Are Now Entering the “Twilight” Zone of Inevitable Online Video Spoofs

As BoomTown expected, the popularity of the chaste-yet-lustful vampire movie for screaming teen girls everywhere, “Twilight,” has inspired more online video spoofs than you can shake a braided rope of garlic at.

Rabid fans of Stephenie Meyer’s vampire book series flew into theaters all weekend, adding up to a $70.5 million U.S. box office tally so far.

Thus, we are in for more online videos in praise and in mockery of Edward and Bella than perhaps even Alaska Governor Sarah Palin engendered.

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Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Steve Bomb-mer Drops Another One on Yahoo, Whose Shares Tank to $9, as Microsoft Settles on Digital Head Pick

At least Yahoo got one day of stock euphoria, on the news that its CEO Jerry Yang was stepping down, before Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer dropped yet another bomb on the troubled Internet giant by saying once more with feeling that he is not at all interested in buying it.

Yahoo shares plummeted on the news, dropping below $10 a share to close at $9.14, down $2.41 or an astonishing 21 percent.

While lack of interest in acquiring Yahoo is a sentiment that Ballmer has expressed more times than Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said “maverick” in the presidential campaign, Wall Street continues to hold out hope that Microsoft might swoop in and make a new bid for all of Yahoo.

It will not. Let’s repeat. It. Will. Not.

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Sunday, November 2, 2008

John McCain Scores on QVC, Oops, SNL

As BoomTown has noted, one of the best things to come out of this election has been the very funny and very topical humor that has been on “Saturday Night Live” in this political cycle.

Headlined by Tina Fey’s perfect impression of Sarah Palin, it has been biting without stooping to the rank meanness from so many other places by both sides.

Last night, Republican Presidential candidate John McCain–who has been on SNL before (his “John McCain sings Streisand” skit was really a gem from that appearance)–was in two skits on the show and did a great job in both.

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Friday, October 24, 2008

Will Ferrell as Dubya (on the Hot Lady and the Tiger Woods Guy)

Here is the latest “Saturday Night Live” political video, with Will Ferrell reprising his excellent take on President George W. Bush, along with Tina Fey as Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, in a version of the endorsement of Sen. John McCain.

Once again, it is likely to be more popular online than on television, as it has been for all of the sketches, a striking trend for the long-running comedy show.

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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Boybama: Bizarrely Addictive

Saturday night was all Sarah Palin’s, after the Alaska governor and Republican VP candidate appeared on “Saturday Night Live” with a classy comic turn.

Now, the Democratic side–which has been overwhelmingly more active in creating funny online videos–is back with yet another political spoof: a boy band called, of course, Boybama.

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Sunday, October 19, 2008

Sarah Palin Plays Sarah Palin on SNL and Nails It

Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor Sarah Palin did a very smooth–if sweetly awkward–job in her appearance on “Saturday Night Live” last night.

It was a good decision to go low key and also do a bit of stunt casting by bringing in Mark Wahlberg, who was mocked in an impersonation last week by SNL, and also Alec Baldwin. Palin also appeared later, rocking out to a very funny rap.

Sometimes politics can be really ugly and sometimes silly–this time Palin managed to poke fun at herself without being either.

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Thursday, October 16, 2008

Sarah Palin and the Viral Web

As former Disney CEO and online video investor Michael Eisner said in a recent onstage Q&A appearance about what works for video on the Web: “Sex seems to work. User-generated, sports, news, anything with Sarah Palin works.”

Indeed, anything with Sarah Palin.

Here is the latest Internet effort, an unusual interactive site called PalinAsPresident in which you click on various items in the Oval Office, where Palin is sitting behind the desk, to hear funny remarks from her.

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Monday, October 6, 2008

Sarah Palin and Tina Fey: A Perfect Marriage

The third time is charming, in fact, as has been every appearance on “Saturday Night Live” by Tina Fey impersonating Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

This one, of course, is on last week’s debate between Palin and Democratic VP candidate, Sen. Joe Biden, with Queen Latifah also doing a perfect double-taking turn as moderator Gwen Ifill.

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Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Okay, Tina Fey’s Return as Sarah Palin Is Too Adorkable to Resist…

How did we miss this one from Saturday Night Live this past weekend?

If you are feeling bad about the tech stock meltdown yesterday, this spoof–the second hysterical one–video by Tina Fey as Alaska Governor and Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin will make you feel much better.

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Monday, September 15, 2008

As Promised–Tina Fey as Sarah Palin as Tina Fey…

While you might have seen it everywhere by now, BoomTown promised this would actually be the last post of the multitude of video spoofs about Alaska Governor and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin that have popped up on the Web of late.

Thus, here is Tina Fey’s version–which, as I expected, is the best–of Palin on “Saturday Night Live” this past weekend. She is joined by Amy Poehler, who does a perfect slow-burn impression of New York Senator Hillary Clinton.

It will doubtless be the most popular video online this week.

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Friday, September 12, 2008

The Very Last Online Sarah Palin Spoof We’ll Post (Until the Tina Fey One, Of Course)

Last week, BoomTown posted just some of the many, many online video spoofs of Alaska Governor and Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Gov. Palin, one of the more colorful political figures to pop up in years, is like the gift that keeps on giving to the Web comedy world, which seems to be churning out video after video of mock impersonations of her.

Here’s the best I have seen so far, by well-known actress Gina Gershon–who actually looks like her–on the most excellent Funny or Die comedy Web site.

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About Kara

Kara Swisher started covering digital issues for The Wall Street Journal's San Francisco bureau in 1997 and also wrote the BoomTown column about the sector. With Walt Mossberg, she co-produces and co-hosts D: All Things Digital, a major high-tech and media conference. Read more »

Ethics Statement

Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.

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