$70k/month at 17

Tom. Mark. Matt. Kevin… All well-known names in the Web 2.0 world, but now there is a new one who has an interesting story: Ashley (or “ashbo” as she’s known on MySpace).

In what would be the dream of any serious internet marketer, this 17 year old has, pretty much accidentally, produced a website over the last few years that now generates over $70,000 per month at WhateverLife.com by providing MySpace layouts and other designs. Having her designs on other people’s profiles along with strong word of mouth adverting eventually created a flood of traffic — classic viral marketing tactics.

But it’s obvious she’s not in it for the money. She’s turned down offers of over $1 million to buy the site so she wants to see how far she can take the project herself. Very respectable.

FastCompany.com Article

Ashley’s MySpace Profile

Destroy Everything You Touch

Ladytron. I really like this band…

Official Site: Ladytron.com

MySpace: myspace.com/ladytron

More on YouTube: click here

Sopranos Ending

I was shocked like everyone else last night when it ended. We would all like to know exactly what happened, but the more I think about it, the more I like the ending.

Everyone wanted to see Phil go, and he did, in one of the best hits of the entire show. They gave us that much. But how to get rid of Tony is a bigger problem. If he’s killed, that would be too predictable. If he survives, that would just be wrong, this was the story of the prince of North Jersey. There is no logical reason the stop telling the story if he’s still alive. His life would probably be even more interesting after this war if he was still around.

So they had to kill him without killing him.

Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!

300

This is at least partially due to my love of ancient warfare and my long-held particular respect for the culture of Sparta, but I thought that 300 was one of the best movies that I have seen in a long time.

The visual effects were amazing. I like how 300 and Sin City were made to look like comic books, unlike all the other comic-based movies. The Persians looked like demons, the wolf’s eyes glowed red, and they recreated exact scenes from the comic for the movie. They weren’t trying to make something that looked “realistic,” just to stay true to the comic.

The story was good. They didn’t derivate from actual history too much, as far as I know, just told an interesting story around it. They even included some famous Spartan quotes, such as “come back with your shield, or upon it.” Though that quote was actually said by a Spartan mother to her son, not a Spartan wife to her husband, as depicted in the movie.

I’ve seen it twice now, once at the midnight showing on Thursday night, and once last night at the new Movie Tavern. At the midnight show, type of crowd this movie attracted can best be described by this: When the Spiderman preview came on, a hush went over the crowd. It seems that the MySpace marketing really paid off for them, three separate rooms sold out for the midnight showing at the theater we went to. I’m looking forward to seeing the numbers for opening weekend. The Movie Tavern, where we saw it last night, was very nice, access to a decent restaurant and full bar while watching a movie. If you live in Lexington, KY or Texas, you should definitely check it out.

Pictures of You - Donna and Eric

I put this video together to test some new video editing software.