POPROCKS.COM
The online home of Jess Barron

Web content and community expert, writer, editor, blogger, and internet video producer.
Bio | Resume/CV

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In 2004, a guy who I don't know named Jeremy Abbate saw my website and wrote a song called "I Wanna Be As Cool As Jessica Barron." It still amuses me. Here's the mp3 and here are the lyrics.

Archives (slowly being reconstructed):
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See how this site looked in 1998
Poprocks.com screenshot from early 1998
and how the place looked in 2000.
Poprocks.com from June 2000
Yahoo counted me as a "cool person" from 1997-2001. How far have I fallen?!
Yahoo counted me among the "Cool People" in 1997-1998.
The internets have come a long way, baby...

December 4, 2006 Who's on Top in 2006?
The Yahoo! Top Searches of 2006 are now live, and I wrote a post for the corporate blog, Yodel Anecdotal discussing some of the most interesting top searches. Check it out.

I'm going to be on MSNBC's "The Most" with Alison Stewart again on Tuesday, Dec 5 at 12:15 PT / 3:15 ET to discuss the year's top searches. Fun, fun. Do tune in.

What do you think? Why has Britney been the #1 most-searched person on Yahoo! for 5 of the past 6 years? Are you the one searching for her?

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posted by Jess Barron @ 10:55 PM
October 27, 2006 Getting 'Sexy' for Halloween
halloween 2004, jackie kennedy Last Friday, October 20, I went on MSNBC's "The Most" with Alison Stewart to talk about popular Halloween costume searches this year on Yahoo! If you play a drinking game and take a shot of tequila every time I said "sexy" during the 60 second interview, you might get sick. Pirate costumes are popular this year, particularly sexy pirates.

I'm not revealing what my costume is this year...yet. But from 1997-2004, I've been Aeon Flux, Cruella Deville, a vampire, a devil, a bumblebee, a bad pilgrim, legally blonde, and most recently, Jackie Kennedy.

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posted by Jess Barron @ 6:11 AM
June 1, 2006 Relax. Look into the Camera and Smile.
I think I've mentioned the weekly radio interviews I've been doing for the Yahoo! Buzz team to discuss what's popular based on the searches people are conducting on Yahoo!. The interviews are usually pretty fun. Some of my favorite radio shows of the past 2 weeks are The John Carney Show on KMOX-AM in St. Louis and The Morning Buzz on WHEB-FM in Manchester. We talk about everything from Florence Henderson to 3-armed babies. It's a blast, except sometimes waking up at 4 or 5 a.m. is a bit rough.

And now we've added video to the repertoire. Heather and I worked with the awesome folks at ABC News NOW to pitch a weekly online video interview about the top Yahoo! searches. It's happening every Friday, and it's cool stuff. You should check it out.

As if that wasn't enough, last Monday I ended up on MSNBC's "The Most" being interviewed by Alison Stewart about the summer's hottest concert tours as decided by the searches being condcted on Yahoo!.

They had a professional at the station to put on my make-up.

"How do you like to have your make-up done?" she asked me.

"I don't know. What do people usually ask for?" I said, perplexed. My idea of applying make-up is a tube of bright red lipstick, and I realize that might be a bit too dramatic and high contrast for an on-camera interview about internet searches.

"They usally say anything from 'natural' to 'glamorous.'"

"Hmmm. Can I stay more to the natural side..." I said. "but maybe slightly glamorous?" I figured I might as well see what magic she could work. I was trying to watch what she was doing so I could learn some make-up tricks.

"You look like an actress, but I can't think of her name."

"Who?" No one's ever told me I look like anyone.

"I'll think of it..... Marcia Cross from 'Desperate Housewives.' She has such great skin."

"Hmmm." I said, wondering if this meant I also had great skin, but thinking it was probably just the red hair.

Fifteen minutes later she was finished. The faux eyelashes were very glam, but I kept worrying they'd fall off when I blinked.

Being interviewed for TV from a remote studio is pretty weird. You have an ear piece in your ear, and a microphone clipped to your shirt, and you usually don't see the host/journalist who is interviewing you. Instead of seeing their face, you hear their voice in your ear and you look into a big TV camera as if you are talking to another person. You smile, but it's hard to know if the other person is smiling back. The camera lens is dark and blank. I sometimes wonder if I'm keeping my shoulders back and my hair out of my eyes or if I have something caught in my teeth.

Talking to the radio DJs I can wear my pajamas and sprawl out with my laptop on the couch or the floor. It's nice not to hafta worry about the faux eyelashes or if I look weird when I'm laughing.

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posted by Jess Barron @ 11:15 PM