Friday, April 15, 2011

15th ANNUAL WEBBY AWARDS NOMINEES UNVEILED

Justin Bieber, Arcade Fire, The Old Spice Response Campaign, Bed

Intruder Song, Groupon, Angry Birds, SoundCloud, and Flipboard Vie for

Internet's Top Honors


New York, NY (April 12, 2011) -- The year's biggest pop culture and Internet sensations -- from Angry Birds, Groupon, the Old Spice Guy,and Justin Bieber to Arcade Fire, The Bed Intruder Song, SoundCloud, and Flipboard -- are among the nominees announced today for The 15th Annual Webby Awards.

The high-caliber and diverse scope of the nominees reflects how the Internet has become the driving force shaping everything from entertainment to business. Now in its 15th year, The Webby Awards is the world's leading honors recognizing achievement in Websites, online film and video, mobile web, and interactive advertising.

In addition to Academy judges like Martha Stewart, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, and Arianna Huffington selecting Webby Awards winners,starting today millions of people around the world will also help decide who takes home a Webby by voting in The Webby People's Voice Awards presented by Aol. The public has until April 28th to vote at http://webby.aol.com.

Winners will be announced on May 3rd and honored at a star-studded ceremony in New York City on June 13th, where they will deliver five-word speeches in the tradition of past victors like Al Gore ("Please don't recount this vote.") and Jimmy Fallon ("Thank God Conan got promoted"). The ceremony will be broadcast live online; viewers at home will have not just a front row seat, but the ability to participate and shape the show as it unfolds.

Many of this year's nominees represent the sweeping impact of mobile and tablet devices on both culture and commerce, from gaming (Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja) to social networking (foursquare and Flipboard)to entertainment (SoundCloud) and community (Twitter).

Projects featuring a dizzying array of actors, comedians, and musicians, as well as newly minted Web stars, also earned Webby nods.

Nominees range from superstars like Justin Bieber ("Justin Bieber Takes Over Funny or Die"), Lisa Kudrow and Meryl Streep ("Web Therapy"), and Jim Carrey (Funny or Die's "Presidential Reunion") to Internet breakouts like Antoine Dodson and Auto-tune the News (The Bed Intruder Song) and Isaiah Mustafa (Old Spice Response Campaign) to indie favorites like OK Go for "This Too Shall Pass" and Arcade Fire for "The Wilderness Downtown," its groundbreaking interactive music
video.

Nominees earning multiple nominations include:
NYTimes.com (18), Funny or Die (10), Google Creative Lab (8), The Guardian (6), BBC (6), CNN (6), NPR (5), MLBAM (5), and TED (5).

"If you want to check the pulse of popular culture, look no further than this year's Webby Awards nominees," said David-Michel Davies, executive director of The Webby Awards. "Over the past year, the nominees have dominated conversation, entertained us, changed how we work and play, and fueled our imaginations."

PricewaterhouseCoopers provides vote tabulation consulting for The Webby Awards.

A list of nominees in popular categories follows:

BestViral Video
Rated Awesome - The Twitter Movie Trailer
Bed Intruder Song (Auto-tune the News Remix)
The Sandpit
The Digital Story of the Nativity
Aides Graffiti

Best Individual Performance
Jim Carrey for Funny Or Die's Presidential Reunion
Isabella Rossellini for Green Porno
Lisa Kudrow for Web Therapy
Cheri Oteri for Liza Life Coach (AMCtv.com)
Ralph Macchio for Wax on F*ck Off (Funny or Die)

Comedy: Individual Short or Episode
Grammar Nazis by CollegeHumor.com
Justin Bieber Takes Over Funny Or Die
Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Steve Carell
Onion News Network's "Police Slog Through 40,000 Insipid Party Pics To
Find Cause Of Dorm Fire"
Kenny Powers Gets Signed by K-Swiss

Comedy: Long Form or Series
Funny Or Die's Presidential Reunion
Web Therapy
30 Rock: Frank vs. Lutz
The Office: The 3rd Floor Webseries
The Muppets Kitchen with Cat Cora

Best Video Remixes/Mashups
"Press Hop 2" by DJ Steve Porter & SportsNation
Girls Are Bad At Sound Effects
The Office Fanisode
CNN Walk Around the World
KT Tunstall "Glamour Puss" KollaboraTive Music Video

Best Viral Marketing
OK Go "This Too Shall Pass"
Old Spice Response Campaign
Mad Men Yourself
True Blood Live Feed
Google Translate for Animals

Best Music
Arcade Fire- The Wilderness Downtown
The Johnny Cash Project
Thomas Dolby - 'The Toadlickers'
SOUR 'Mirror'
The Sandpit

Best Web Personality
Rahab Elewaly for Making Movement
David Pogue
Justine Ezarik for iJustine
Zach Galifianakis for Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis
Clara Cannucciari for Great Depression Cooking with Clara

Best Drama
Out With Dad
Anyone But Me
"Urban Wolf" an original web series thriller from Crackle.com
Diary of a Single Mom
Eastenders E20

Best Weird
The Daily What
Awkward Family Photos
What the Fuck Should I Make for Dinner?
rathergood.com

Most Awesomest Thing Ever
Best Humor
Funny Or Die
The Onion
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Comedy Central.com
CollegeHumor.com

Best Community
Twitter
Tumblr
COLOURlovers :: Color + Design Community
Cuteness.com Pet Community
OpenIDEO

Best Practices
NYTimes.com
Dropbox
Hulu
Skype
guardian.co.uk

Best Retail
Groupon
LivingSocial
Zappos.com
MOO.COM
Nike Golf

Best Celebrity/Fan
U2 Official Website
WonderWall
Jay-Z Hits Collection Vol. 1
Team Coco
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Official Website

Best Mobile Games (Handheld Devices)
Angry Birds
Fruit Ninja
FarmVille on iPhone
Grover's Number Special
AMCtv.com -- Mad Men Cocktail Culture App

Best Mobile Social Networking (Handheld Devices)
foursquare
Chase QuickPay on Mobile Browser
Nike+ GPS
EpicMix
Android TweetDeck

Best Mobile Music (Handheld Devices)
SoundCloud
Pandora App
SoundHound, Inc.

Music in the Cloud for iPhone and Android
VEVO Mobile
Best Social (Tablet Devices)
Flipboard
Gowalla
HootSuite Mobile Social Media Dashboard
Match.com for iPad
Copia for iPad

About The Webby Awards:

Hailed as the "Internet's highest honor" by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile websites. Established in 1996, the 14th Annual Webby Awards received nearly 10,000 entries from all 50 states and over 60 countries worldwide. The Webby Awards is presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Sponsors and Partners of The Webby Awards include: Microsoft Expression; AOL; YouTube; Pepsi; Aquent; Yahoo!; HP; Sony Electronics; .CO; Corbis Images; Rackspace Hosting; Motorola; Southwest Airlines; East Media; IDG; PricewaterhouseCoopers; 2advanced.Net; Museum of the Moving Image; Behance; Business Insider; Time Out New York; paid Content and The Guardian.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Science Channel's Breakout Series Oddities Premieres April 9th At 10:00PM

Premieres April 9 at 10:00PM (ET/PT)

SCIENCE CHANNEL'S BREAKOUT SERIES ODDITIES TAKES VIEWERS SHOPPING AT THE MARKET OF THE MYSTERIOUS AND THE MACABRE

-"Pawn Stars" Meets "The Addams Family" with the Premiere of ODDITIES Season Two on Saturday, April 9 at 10:00 PM ET/PT on Science Channel-

Where can you go when you're in dire need of a used straight jacket? What if you just have to have a two-headed cat or a book bound with human flesh to make your living room complete? There's only one emporium sublimely weird enough to carry these bizarre items and countless more - Obscura Antiques and Oddities in New York's East Village. Science Channel's breakout series, ODDITIES, follows Obscura's proprietors, Mike and Evan, as well as an assortment of hilariously-unique patrons who are even more outlandish than the merchandise. The second season of ODDITIES premieres Saturday, April 9, at 10:00 PM ET/PT.

Obscura is renowned for having some of the rarest and most-eccentric antique pieces found anywhere - from circus sideshow props, to shocking natural anomalies, to oddball items dabbling in the occult. Aficionados of the unusual from throughout the U.S. and beyond know that Obscura is the only place to purchase their next treasure - or sell their own abnormal assets. Mike, Evan and consultant Ryan serve as the ringmasters for this one-of-a-kind experience that's part swap meet and part cult rally.

"At Science Channel, we make it our goal to 'own weird' on television," said Debbie Adler Myers, executive vice president and general manager of Science Channel. "Obscura might be the most fascinatingly bizarre place I have ever been, and ODDITIES takes viewers through the looking glass for an incredibly entertaining look at one of the most unique subcultures anywhere."

The premiere of ODDITIES season two is literally "lights-out," as the store is visited by a circus performer known for his bizarre appetite. Within minutes of entering Obscura, he begins unscrewing and eating the store's lightbulbs. Freakish finds for season two include a shrunken head, the body of a half alligator/half boy, a Tibetan trumpet made of a human femur, and a cow...with two heads, six legs and two tails.

ODDITIES is produced for Science Channel by Leftfield Picture Bernadette McDaid is vice president of production and executive producer for Science Channel. David George, Brent Montgomery and Colby Gaines are executive producers for Leftfield Pictures

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