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Honoring Michael Jackson - (Aug 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009)

2009-06-26T15:49:00Z

It’s a sad day for millions all over the world today as we cope with the loss of Michael Jackson, the undisputed “King of Pop,” who passed away yesterday at 50 years of age. Jackson was not breathing when the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a call at 12:30pm (PST) yesterday, June 25, 2009. They attempted to resuscitate him, but to no avail. Jackson was pronounced dead at UCLA Medical Center at 2:26pm (PST).

The media has covered this extensively in the last 12 hours and major TV networks even canceled regularly scheduled primetime programming to run specials highlighting his life and times last night. Vigils were said to have taken place in multiple cities across the globe, honoring the late great pop star and proving that despite his increasingly reclusive nature and admittedly strange behavior in recent years, Michael Jackson had a tremendous impact on millions of people.

Jackson’s death comes at a time when he was gearing up to start another world tour including shows in London’s O2 stadium that were widely regarded as the “Hottest Tickets on the Planet”, selling some 750,000 tickets at rates of 11 per second, 657 per minute, and 40,000 per hour, prompting this comment from a Ticketmaster representative: “We often talk about unprecedented demand, but this week we have witnessed a live entertainment phenomenon. Today, we saw well over 250,000 fans hitting the Ticketmaster site at 7am for the general sale tickets. This was undoubtedly the busiest demand for tickets for an event which we have ever experienced.”

His musical career spanned nearly 4 decades, beginning in 1971, and included sales of 750 million albums, 13 grammy awards, and 13 number 1 singles, earning him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “Most Successful Entertainer of All Time.” He was known as someone who was very generous with charities and had an affection for children he claimed to be innocent, but that raised many eyebrows and actually landed him in court a few times. His life certainly seemed to be a rollercoaster with some great highs and some awful lows, which might explain why it was a heart attack that ultimately put an end to it. And yet, despite all the controversy surrounding him, one thing is certain: he will go down in history as a legend, the King of Pop, forever. He is survived by his three children, Prince I, Paris, and Prince “Blanket” II.

It’s not surprising that LivingSocialites love Michael Jackson as well. His major records show up in 15,209 collections and have been reviewed 700+ times. We’ve also got a whole host of books written by or about MJ in our Visual Bookshelf. Have you had the chance to review your favorites? If not, visit our Michael Jackson albums section to catalog your King of Pop albums and review them, or the Michael Jackson books section to do the same for literature.

We’re also seeing a lot of activity in our Pick Your Five and Polls applications, with many people picking their favorite Michael Jackson songs and videos. If you’d like to do the same, follow the links below!

Pick Your Top 5 Michael Jackson Songs

Pick Your Top 5 Michael Jackson Albums

What’s the Best Michael Jackson Album?

What’s the Best Michael Jackson Video?

And of course, you’ve always got the option to create your own Poll in honor of Michael Jackson to share with friends.

Oprah's Top 4 Summer Reading Picks

2009-06-23T22:24:00Z

She's the 2nd most powerful celeb on the 2009 Forbes Celebrity 100 and made $275 Million in 2009. She's built one of the largest entertainment/lifestyle enterprises in the world, and what Oprah likes, people get! So what is the entertainment diva recommending that you read this summer? Here's a list of O Mag's Top 4 Picks for Your Summer Reading as reported to ABC by Gayle King, editor of O Mag:

Columbine by Dave Cullen

"It's been a decade since the shocking school massacre at a Colorado high school stunned the nation, and journalist Dave Cullen's "Columbine" offers vivid details about one of the most disturbing days in the nation's history. It was a reported piece; he spent 10 years looking into it," King said. "He really paints the story and tells us things you didn't know." As it turns out, the LivingSocial community is ahead of Oprah's recommendation, and has plenty to say about "Columbine", overwhelmingly pointing out that it is a delicate balance between a morbidly disturbing and thrillingly informative read. Check it out this summer, if you haven't already done so!

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

This is what happens when you take one of the most well-known classics of all time and mash it up with themes from b-level movies with zombies and other shenanigans. Think Swan Lake ballet meets Rocky Horror Picture Show and you've got this unorthodox read in which a plague befalls a quiet town, causing the dead to return to life. The main character, Elizabeth Bennet is dead set (pun intended) on eliminating the presence of zombies in her fair town, but gets distracted by Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a lighthearted, cheeky read that includes romance and heartbreak, cannibalism, swordfights, and plenty of other gruesome things that would probably make Jane Austen roll over in her grave. The LivingSocial community seems mixed on this read, the main argument surrounding whether or not this is injustice to a classic or a funny, lighthearted satire worth reading. Throw in your two cents!

Provenance by Laney Salisbury & Aly Sujo

"In "Provenance," authors Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo tell the tale of an elaborate 20th century hoax in which John Drewe forges letters, doctors exhibition catalogs and bamboozles art experts into accepting a slew of "masterpieces." The investigative reporters detail the spectacular scam." As it turns out, LivingSocialites haven't yet sounded off about Provenance, but we're betting that changes now that Oprah's recommended it. If you've read it, be the first to dish the scoop to the rest of the LS community!

Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horn by James Gavin

The beautiful Lena Horne became a pioneer for African-Americans in the arts. The singer and actress was the first African-American woman to win an Academy Award for best actress, and "Stormy Weather" offers insight into her career and personal life. As with Provenance, Stormy Weather is still awaiting some good ol' fashioned LivingSocial critiquing, so be sure to leave your thoughts if you've read it, or once you have done so!

So go on, LivingSocialites, and get your read on this summer. And if you happen to knock these out and want to learn a bit more about the gal who recommended 'em to you, go ahead and scoop up The Uncommon Wisdom of Oprah Winfrey: A Portrait in Her Own Words and give it a read as well.

Can You Get "Wrapped Up in a Kindle?"

2009-06-22T21:11:00Z

Let's talk about Kindle, Google, and the digitization of books in general for a second. We here at LivingSocial have a Kompany Kindle, and we like it plenty. The size, weight, and convenience make it a pretty cool little device to have, especially for gadget geeks. And hats off to Amazon for making the screen so realistic looking - it's hard to even tell you're not reading an actual page sometimes. That being said, there has been some serious resistance to the digitization of books because people argue that nothing can compare to the actual feel of a book - some people say they even love the smell of their books! Typically I'm not smelling my books, but I suppose I see where they are coming from.

The question is, can it be prevented? Is it even worth asking that question at this point or is the digitization force one that cannot be stopped? The recently released $489 Kindle DX, which boasts a larger screen designed specifically for periodicals, textbooks, and other large-format reading sold out just 3 days after it started shipping this month. And earlier this month Jeff Bezos reported that of the 300,000+ books available through Amazon for purchase, either for the Kindle or in physical form, Kindle orders represent 35% of all book orders. Promising numbers for Amazon supported by people like Scott Stein who wrote on the CNET gadget blog, Curve, that Amazon is cheaper, more convenient, and even enables people to download books to their iPhones by way of the Kindle app, a feature that is really quite convenient. Of course, the flip side of that argument comes from traditionalists who argue that there's just no replacement for a real book.

And of course, as with any popular internet trend, it's only a matter of time before Google latches on and decides it wants to find a way to reinvent the wheel. Most recently, Google has been battling with the Department of Justice and Librarians everywhere for the rights to make millions of books available for reading and purchase on the internet. Arguments against Google surround privacy, as well as a monopoly that enables Google to inflate prices of books and have zero competition in the space. But those in favor point out that bringing books to the internet for the masses is a positive thing that will ensure books remain relevant in these ever-changing times.

So what do you think? We here at LivingSocial aren't exactly sure what to think. Our VisualBookshelf application serves as the online bookshelf for millions of books cataloged by millions of avid readers out there, and clearly it would take a lot of room to house that many books. Plus, we think the Kindle is nifty, but what about the age-old feeling of getting wrapped up "in a good book"? "Getting wrapped up in a Kindle" just doesn't have the same ring to it....

LivingSocial Events

2009-06-19T17:47:00Z

One part of LivingSocial that you have probably never seen is our LivingSocial Events page. Our events page help bring LivingSocial users in New York City, and soon others cities, together for free cocktails.

This event at China 1, is just one of our many upcoming events where you can meet other LivingSocial users away from the computer or just get all of your friends together for a free drink. Just RSVP to any of these events online, print out your code and show up for free drinks and a lot of fun.

If you attend one of these events or you have any suggestions, let us know what you think by emailing us at feedback@livingsocial.com or tweet us @LivingSocial.

Cheers from the team at LivingSocial!

Polls by LivingSocial

2009-06-11T20:15:00Z

A lot has been going on here at LivingSocial lately. You already know all about our nine LivingSocial categories and the PickYour5 Facebook application. Recently you might also have noticed our LivingSocial Pick Your Five)

Favorite movies of all time
Best TV shows
5 Things i don’t leave the house without!
Favorite Sports Teams
Favorite beer

Best Brews Around

2009-04-15T19:18:00Z

Best Brews

Ever wonder how many different brands of beer there are? Or how long it might take to try every single beer out there?

According to Wikipedia, Beer is the world's oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic beverage, with more than 35 billion gallons (133 billion liters) sold each year! Add to that there are rumored to be more than 20,000 brands of beer, and you've got quite a task ahead of you if you plan to try them all.

We here at LivingSocial love us some beer - heck, we'd have to in order to dedicate an entire category to it! From dark beers to light; strong to weak; lager to stout; you can bet we've tried a bunch. That said, we're no experts, at least not compared to some folks who take their appreciation for beer to the next step; these people are true experts. There is a popular site that all beer-lovers should know about called Beeradvocate, which is where many of these experts to go talk about and rate beers. This is one of the sites that we turn to whenever we're looking for a cool new beer to try, or clarification about a brewery location or the spelling of a specific brew - a real almanac, if you will.

I recently found myself pondering, "what are the best beers on earth?" By no means is this question easily answered, however, sure as fate BeerAdvocate has taken a stab at answering it by compiling a list of what they deem "Top 100 Beers on Planet Earth" , using a fancy-schmancy statistical formula that eliminates a lot of bias you might find in other lists. While I totally encourage you to take a visit to their Top 100 list, I'll summarize the Top 10 for you here:

Trappist Westvleteren 12 by Brouwerij Westvleteren
Pliny The Younger by Russian River Brewing Company
The Abyss by Deschutes Brewery
Dark Lord Imperial Stout by Three Floyds Brewing Company
Kate The Great by Portsmouth Brewery
Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout by Russian RIver Brewing Company
Pliny The Elder by Russian River Brewing Company
Trappist Westvleteren 8 by Brouwerij Westvleteren
Masala Mama Indian Pale Ale by Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery
AleSmith Speedway Stout by AleSmith Brewing Company

But what about the millions of beer fans at LivingSocial? What do they like most? Well, I've got the answer to that as well. Here's the Top 10 most popular beers on LivingSocial: Beer:

Heineken by Heineken N.V.
Corona by Group Modelo
Guinness Draught by Guinness Ltd.
Budweiser by Anheuser-Busch/InBev
Stella Artois by Stella Artois
Coors Light by Molson Coors Brewing Company
Bud Light by Anheuser-Busch/InBev
Beck's by Haake-Beck Brauerei
Carlsberg by Carlsberg Group
Fosters Lager by Fosters Group Ltd

So there you have it - the Top 10 beers in the world according to the people at Beeradvocate, and the Top 10 most popular beers according to the people at LivingSocial: Beer. Have you tried them all? Be sure to head on over to LivingSocial: Beer to add them to your collection, rate, and review them!

Cheers from the team at LivingSocial!

What's Hot in Music This Week - 4.13.09

2009-04-13T22:12:00Z

Eminem to Perform at 2009 MTV Movie Awards Sunday May 31st at 9pm

Just the other day I was listening to an Eminem tune on my iPod and I thought to myself, "Where in the World is Marshall Mathers?!" The potty-mouthed rapper known as much for fueling controversy as spitting out rhymes at incomprehensible speeds hasn't put out an album since the critically acclaimed Encore in 2004. It seems as though the answer to my question has arrived, as Mr. Em is set to release his latest album, Relapse, on May 19th, according to MTV.com. He's also been tapped to perform at MTV's 2009 MTV Movie Awards. His newest single, "We Made You," which can be seen here, shares similarities in style to Without Me from 2002's The Eminem Show. In true Eminem style, he makes fun of a whole lot of people in the video, including Sarah Palin, Jessica Alba, Jessica Simpson, Tony Romo, Bret Michaels, and the list goes on. All of it makes for a good laugh, and of course, a cameo by Dr. Dre is only natural.

What's Hot on the Billboard Top 100

Boom Boom Pow by the Black Eyed Peas
Poker Face by Lady GaGa
Right Round by Flo Rida
Kiss Me Thru The Phone by Soulja Boy Tell 'em feat. Sammie
Blame It by Jamie Foxx feat. T-Pain
Dead and Gone by T.I. feat Justin Timberlake
Day n' Nite by Kid Cudi
Gives You Hell by The All-American Rejects
You Found Me by The Fray
The Climb by Miley Cyrus

Pearl Jam Back in the Mix

It has been reported that the legends of the grunge scene are set to release a new album, film, and launch a U.S. tour, according to Billboard.com. The album is rumored to contain 14 songs, the tour they'll be playing will supposedly include the Austin City Limits Music Festival, where Dave Matthews, Beastie Boys, and Kings of Leon are supposedly also headlining, and the video is said to be a collection of film compiled to honor the bands 20th Anniversary.

T.I. Riding Paper Trail all the way to Jail

Rapper T.I.'s 4th studio album, entitled "King," served in many as foreshadowing the future for the golden boy of Southern Hip-Hop, whose popularity has gone through the roof ever since King's release in March of 2006. He's the proud owner of nine Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 singles, 3 of which reached #1. Despite his global success, and contrary to the "change" he wants all of us to see in him, T.I. was arrested in October 2007 after purchasing 3 unregistered machine guns just four hours before the BET Hip-Hop Awards. In March of 2009, he was sentenced to 1-year and 1-day in prison for the offense. Of course, this did nothing but fuel the fire of his latest album, Paper Trail, which dominates the charts and airwaves. In a vague interview with MTV's Sway Calloway, T.I. talked about re-releasing Paper Trail with 5 additional tracks, which Sway cleverly pointed out was a way for T.I. to keep himself in the mainstream while behind bars. The rapper also spoke of releasing a new album once he is released from prison that will be a "Celebration" of putting troubled times behind him. Check out MTV.com for more on this, and the interview with Sway.

Green Day is Bringin' the Heat!

It's been five long years since Green Day's latest album, American Idiot took the world by storm, and for those of us who consider ourselves fans, that's just way too long! Fortunately for us, Green Day will be releasing another album in May called 21st Century Breakdown, which MTV seems quite impressed with. The album is set to release mid-May, but Green Day will be premiering the video, which is reportedly going to be heavy on the pyrotechnics, for it's "Enemy" track, on April 24th on more than 250 MTV on-air and online outlets worldwide. A snippet of that is available on MTV.com.

Introducing Pick Your 5

2009-04-09T14:34:00Z

Here at LivingSocial, we are all about creating lists and categorizing stuff. With 9 subject areas already in place (from books to slopes) and more coming soon, our aim is to help you manage the things you like easily and socially.

It was with those goals in mind that we introduced a new LivingSocial experience on Facebook called Pick Your Five. Pick Your 5 is a simple application that allows you to quickly generate lists of five things, with a title you create, and share those lists with your friends. Every subject area on LivingSocial.com (video games, beer, books, etc.) is available to be picked from in Pick Your 5 along with new categories we’ve added especially for the Pick Your 5 app, like celebrities, hot sauces, countries, pro sports teams, and others.

Above is an image of the creation screen in Pick Your 5. Once you click “Finish,” your pick five list is complete, and it appears on your Facebook stream, so your friends can comment on your choices or pick their own.

Let us know if you have any feedback about Pick Your 5 by emailing us at feedback@livingsocial.com or tweet us @LivingSocial. Also, please, let us know which new categories you want in Pick Your 5 and which of those you most want to see expanded into new subject areas on LivingSocial.com.

How do you describe LivingSocial?

2009-03-12T13:17:00Z

First off, let me apologize for the long radio silence over the past few weeks. We haven't been taking an extended holiday, but rather working on a bunch of behind-the-scenes improvements and bug fixes. In other words, we haven't had any cool, new features to talk about, unless of course, you consider search engine optimization or database restructuring sexy.

Not to worry, we're bringing sexy back. In October, we hired a kick-ass designer, Keith, who has been trucking on a more cohesive LivingSocial. The team has been pouring through user-feedback from the last year and contemplating what ways we can provide a better experience.

In doing so, we realized that we have an idea of who we are but aside from a few praise e-mails a week, we really don't know who you think we are. Our solution: we ask you.

Here's the challenge: Describe LivingSocial.

In one word, eight words, or one thousand fifty-two. Draw us a picture. Send us a video. Rap it. Write a poem (which surprisingly, our CEO can do well.) Be creative. Unfiltered is fine - we don't bruise too easily.

In exchange for your creative juices, we'll send you some LivingSocial schwag.

Tweet us @LivingSocial or drop us a line at feedback@livingsocial.com. And don't forget to send us your mailing address for the schwag. ;)

Show Images On Your Collection Page

2009-02-11T18:51:00Z

Today we have two small (but hopefully significant!) changes to announce that impact users’ collections. First off, the “Manage” page is no more. We renamed the page’s title in the header “My Collection,” which is a bit more accurate and easier to understand. In terms of functionality, the page is still the same, so you can still search your collection, give ratings, change statuses, delete, create lists, etc. all from that one place.

Along with the name change, we’ve added the ability for you to show the images of the things in your collection on your “My Collection” page. Click the “show images” link above your collection to display a small thumbnail image for each item. You can prevent the images from displaying by clicking “hide images” at any time. Hopefully, this tweak makes it easier for you to find the things you’re trying to find!

As always, please, don’t hesitate to drop us a line at feedback@livingsocial.com or swing by http://getsatisfaction.com/livingsocial.

What iPhone Apps do your friends use?

2009-01-29T19:55:00Z

After launching Slopes last week, we’re excited to announce our next new subject area: iPhone Apps. If you are like the LivingSocial team, we don’t have a ton of time to download every new app that comes out. Instead, we use the recommendations of our friends to figure out what iPhone apps are essential accessories.

A few weeks back, we decided to create LivingSocial: iPhone apps to solve this problem. Now, you can get recommendations, ratings, and reviews from your friends and figure out what apps are worth your time and money. Plus, we offer direct downloads to the iTunes store, so you don’t even have to go back and forth between your browser and iTunes.

From what we can tell, we’re the first site out there that integrates your friends into the iPhone app experience.

Get started cataloging your favorite iPhone Apps today. If you notice any inaccurate information or have any problems with iPhone apps, drop us a line at feedback@livingsocial.com or swing by GetStatisfaction.

Why is my Collection shrinking?

2009-01-26T22:21:00Z

We are constantly working to clean up the LivingSocial: Movies database. Thanks in large part to your moderation reports we track down duplicate movies and “roll them up” into individual movies on a daily basis. Lately, we’ve focused on eliminating things that simply aren’t movies that somehow snuck into our database, and rolling up duplicate movies that were released in multiple formats (ex: Gladiator [Blu-ray] and Gladiator [VHS]).

For those of you whose total number of movies in your collections have decreased: do not fear. Any changes you’ve noticed are simply due to duplicate movies being rolled up or non movie things (like posters and TV shows) being deleted. We know that many people have added TV shows to their collections, and while we are removing these from the movies database you can still catalog these shows in LivingSocial: TV Shows. This distinct area allows you to catalog TV shows, comment and rate individual seasons and episodes, and watch full length episodes for some shows.

If you see a duplicate movie or an incorrect title, please use the “Report Inaccurate Data” link on each movie page (as you can see above) to contact us directly.

As always, please don’t hestitate to drop us a line at feedback@livingsocial.com or swing by http://getsatisfaction.com/livingsocial.

Ski or Snowboard into LivingSocial: Slopes

2009-01-23T14:50:00Z

With winter in full effect, the LivingSocial team is pleased to announce our newest subject area: Slopes. Slopes allows you and your friends to catalog your favorite ski and snowboarding destinations, while getting recommendations from LivingSocial on where to go for your next winter vacation. In addition, we've integrated with SnoCountry, providing you with up-to-date information on the current conditions at each slope.

Slopes is the first subject to include detailed information, a trend you will see in all of our future subject areas. If you notice any inaccurate information or have problems with Slopes, drop us a line at feedback@livingsocial.com.

Whoops!

2009-01-22T22:49:00Z

Last week we rolled out some major changes to our recommendations page. Based on huge amounts of user feedback, we've rolled out an updated version of our recommendation page. The major change on this page is the addition of a "Skip, Don't show this again" button. This button works very similar to the "Not Interested" status that used to exist on all of our recommendations.

By clicking this button, we will never show you that thing again in your recommendations, and we'll automatically generate a new recommendation for you.

Thanks for the continued feedback. Don't hesitate to drop us a line at feedback@livingsocial.com.