May 17
Comedy Central blames ISRAEL with video game
I just wrote a post on Jewlicious.com about the crazy, offensive, and disgusting video game created by Comedy Central called “I.S.R.A.E.L. Attacks!”.
Here’s what I wrote:
- The creative / media team behind “Drawn Together” from Comedy Central created a very very offensive game against Jews & Israel …. http://www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/game_player/index.jhtml?game=271497. I am trying to find a way that this is not offensive, but alas, I am at a loss.
The JIDF blog did a piece on it yesterday.
The game’s premise is as follows:
“Jew Producer” apparently failed to destroy other child-like character. Thus, a robot, “the Intelligent Smart Robot Animation Eraser Lady” (I.S.R.A.E.L.) is sent to do the job. The game then shows “I.S.R.A.E.L.”, the robot, destroying everything in its path, even children.
Original Video- More videos at TinyPic
Write to Comedy Central about the disgusting video game on their website called: “I.S.R.A.E.L. Attacks!”: http://www.comedycentral.com/help/questionsCC.jhtml. Tell them that you find the gave repulsive and offensive. Please do not threaten the network in any way.
Join the Facebook group: Comedy Central – I.S.R.A.E.L. Attack game is offensive. Remove it.
Write to Comedy Central on Twitter: @ComedyCentral and tell them about your disappointment.
If you’d like, you can ReTweet my message to Comedy Central:
Shame on @ComedyCentral 4 this “I.S.R.A.E.L. Attacks!” video game: http://j.mp/au5pk8 This is beyond offensive! (RT @YeahThatsKosher)
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this “game”. Please comment below.
Mar 23
I’ve been featured by CUNY BA
It’s pretty exciting to be featured by the CUNY BA, the program in conjunction with Brooklyn College, where I graduated from. They wrote about my life post-college, my projects, and work.
If you’re related to me, you can just skip the article and shep nachas*. Otherwise, the article is on the CUNY BA site here: http://cunyba.gc.cuny.edu/blog/daniel-klein-sociologymarketing/
*[For the non-Yiddish crowd, 'shepping nachas' can be roughly translated as a combination of deriving great pleasure from something and being extremely proud of someone... for example; when a friend or loved one does something exemplary.] ~ Definition from Treppenwitz.com
Mar 17
Torah Times Circular = Jewish Ad FAIL
My wife (Arielle) picked up this circular in one of the kosher restaurants 
in midtown today and was excited to show this to me. I love ads, especially bad ones. Props to Arielle for cherry picking the following ads, which are ripe for parody.
The following are from the Torah Times circular, Week of March 10-16, 2010:
- Shticky Sushi – this ad for a new Kosher Sushi place seemed cool at first. Nice logo. Massive Sushi menu. Great. One problem. I have no idea where this place is. There’s a 718 phone number, but that could mean Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island or the Bronx. No idea. So I figured, I’ll go to their website. Pretty cool website, especially for a Kosher place, right? I looked everywhere. No address. Nothing. What’s even weirder… it says “curbside pickup also available”. Is this a joke? Curbside sushi pickup to a place no one can find? Good luck. >> You guys need marketing assistance. Feel free to contact me… Click for Ad Image
- Joe Lazar for City Council – I only vote for heimeshe people that are warm and fuzzy … Click for Ad Image
Ridiculous Jewish / Pesach (Passover) Products:
- I’m actually pissed off I didn’t invent any Kosher for Pesach products. Maybe I should start a Kosher for Passover website: “This site contains no chametz or gebrochts“.
- Kosher Passover Pans – seriously? are regular pans laced with breadcrumbs? … Click for Ad Image
- Palisades Aluminum Foil – same shtuyot (stupidity) as the above product… Click for Ad Image
- Glatt Water – Water … with extra special Glatt nutrients! … Click for Ad Image
- Swarovski Crystal Pesach Collection — 1) This ad screams of 2 copyright or trademark infringements. 2) Crystals on your seder paraphernalia? Why? Why? 3) This is selling for $500!! … Click for Ad Image
Are these products necessary? If you have purchased (or feel the need to purchase) the products below, please comment on this post to explain why, and include your halachic / textual reference. I’m honestly curious to read why we need them.
Mar 11
My site got hacked…
Yesterday this site got hacked, by “Turkish Muslim Hackers”. How? Why? I have no idea.
I wrote about it on Jewlicious.com: http://www.jewlicious.com/2010/03/what-do-turkish-muslim-hackers-want-from-me/
Mar 10
Transition
I am preparing myself mentally for a new stage in my life. I have spent my career defending Israel as a part of my job, and I now have to move to the sidelines. It is difficult to move “to the sidelines”, but I feel that I have given my all to help grow my organization, and to assist Israel in the process. My career path has lead me to accept a great opportunity at a well respected digital marketing agency, for which I am set to begin after Pesach.
I am excited to eat, drink, and sleep social media (which I already do) and now get paid for it. I am thrilled to work with a new team of peers: social media and computer geeks … and with some big name clients. This is a unique time to be in my shoes. This time of transition is a new experience for me, and I am looking forward to the forthcoming challenges that await me in the near future.
I will miss my friends, colleagues, and students I have worked with over the years at StandWithUs. Please stay in touch.
~Dani
Feb 14
Social Media, Newspapers, and TV
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It’s interesting that the traditional media, namely television & newspapers, who are not as profitable as they once were due to the Internet, have taken different approaches regarding social media.
Newspapers, the soon to be all but extinct media, have heavily pushed their online presence to give life to their struggling brands. Journalists are using blogs to copy find stories, while the papers are synced with Twitter to publish their headlines in the hopes that they are RT (ReTweeted) out to the masses. Despite this attempt, newspapers will be on life support within a few short years.
Television on the other hand isn’t fully intertwined with social media yet. While you can find almost every show on TV (minus HBO programming and a few others) online, either via Hulu or the network’s website, social media seems to be an afterthought. Yes, there is the required “share” button near the video, and some sites allow or encourage discussion of their programs below or alongside the video. But is that all? With social media as pervasive as it has become over the past few years in our lives, how has it not been integrated into program content? While statistics show that more and more people are spending more time on Facebook, Twitter, writing a blog, and especially checking their mobile devices — do we see our favorite characters on [NBC's] The Office or [CBS's] How I Met Your Mother check their Facebook profile ever?
Couldn’t they make these programs more interactive with the audience? I do have to give credit to How I Met Your Mother for integrating a Super Bowl ad with Neil Patrick Harris playing his character Barney Stinson – encouraging the audience to call a number, blurring the lines of real life and scripted TV. But beyond that, where is the creativity? Where is the use of social media reaching out to fans – current or potential?
Some shows are doing this. I’m currently following Twitter accounts relating to Glee, White Collar, and the Olympics, but those are just a few shows of many I like and follow, and they rarely tweet. With the tons of programming that goes on week after week, the lost outreach opportunities through social media conversations are many. People are talking about your programming. Why not be involved – either by listening or participating, or god forbid both?
I call upon the TV & cable networks to put on their thinking caps, get creative, and think out of the box. Or, hire me, and let’s do something different. 
Feb 7
Random Stupid Thought “Cabbies & English”
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When taking taxis in the US, the cab driver’s native language is never English, yet when you go overseas, how frequently does the cabbie speak anything but his native tongue?
Right?
Why the double standard cabbies? You gotta speak English somewhere.
Feb 2
Blogging for Social Media Week
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You can check out all of my current, and future, posts for Social Media Week here: Social Media Week is taking place Feb 1-5, 2010 in NYC, Toronto, San Francisco, London, Sao Paulo, and Berlin.
http://socialmediaweek.org/blog/author/dklein/ & http://socialmediaweek.org/newyork/author/dklein/
About this Social Media Week Guest Blogger: Dani Klein is Founder and Blogger at YeahThatsKosher.com, Founder/Consultant at SocialCity Marketing and Social Media Director at StandWithUs. You can follow Dani on Twitter @YeahThatsKosher.
Jan 29
3 Topics to Talk (and Tweet) About at #SocialMediaWeek
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(This was originally posted yesterday on www.SocialMediaWeek.org)
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Need something to discuss at #SMW? Wondering which topics will emerge as hot-button conversation pieces? Based on what’s generating buzz now, and what we’re expecting to see in the coming months, here are my predictions:
1. Location based (geo-social) apps are here, there, everywhere. Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp, Loopt and a handful of others have been making waves lately. What changes will they bring to the social media world?
These services will continue to grow in 2010 because they integrate well with pre-existing platforms like Facebook and Twitter and allow users to track their whereabouts in real time. You can learn about places nearby, get specials or coupons, and find your friends in the area. 360i’s David Berkowitz explained the key differences between these apps in an article published earlier this week.
Given the growing popularity of mobile-social platforms, don’t be surprised to see a large number of people at Social Media week “checking in” at the various events. You may even meet some mayors. (Editor’s Note: Stay tuned — We’ll soon be publishing a guide on using geo-location services at Social Media Week right here on the blog.)
2. Facebook and Twitter continue to dominate. Nothing new here — between Facebook’s revamped privacy settings and new currency, Facebook Credits, the world’s largest social network is a mainstay in social media conversation. Not to be outdone,Twitter has recently implemented Local Trends. Has that changed the way you search through tweets?
3. Where does social media fit within non-profits and fund raising initiatives? Working for a non-profit, I have seen first hand what social media and other online apps and tools can do for cash-strapped organizations and small businesses. There are a number of sessions at the New York event that will address this very topic. You can read all about them and register here.
The rise of social media has allowed the world to both help and witness the recent devastating earthquake in Haiti. Through numerous organizations, celebrities and personal efforts, millions of dollars were raised online and through text messaging, demonstrating the unique power of social media to spread awareness and drive others to take action in times of need. Earlier this month, digital word of mouth played a key role in the more than $5 million raised for the Red Cross’s relief work in Haiti within a 24-hour period.
“Social Media and the Haiti Disaster” – a New York Times SMW New York event – will focus on the role of social media by news organizations, relief groups, search and rescue teams and people around the world during and in the aftermath of the earthquake.
Which trends do you think will be discussed at Social Media Week in New York and elsewhere? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
