Thursday, March 17, 2005

The KROQ interview!

Well, i'm guessing most people have heard the radio interview by now but just in case you haven't, you can download the entire show from this site. Look for the link on the sidebar. Get it while it's still up though because it won't be there forever! It's about a 39 meg download. The interview starts exactly around the 2:36:23 mark.

(Update: I managed to get an mp3 of the interview itself available for download here. Only 5.9 megs!)

You can also find a written recap of the show over at the Kevin and Bean blog. There's also a picture of Mandy with the Kevin and Bean gang over at the KROQ 106.7 website (under the 'sights' link).

It was a great interview by the way. Well worth listening to. Not only is Mandy like, really really pretty, but she also sounds pretty too. Haha. Oh and did i mention that i was invited to be on the show? (!) Anyhow, here's the recap of the interview itself, courtesy of the Kevin and Bean blog:
Mandy Amano, Pepsi iTunes Babe - The smoking hot actress, and the new object of geek obsession talked about the Super Bowl commercial that launched her to stardom: she didn't even know what the product was when she went to the shoot! It was kept secret with confidentiality agreements, etc... Ralph: "With that kind of security you'd think it's for Uranium or something!"  Shot around christmas, she watched it premeiere live at a party with a bunch of suprised burly guys during the game. About the stalker fan's blog devoted to her, "It was creepy at first, but it's all G rated so far!"  Yes, she's already shot her Maxim pictures, for the May issue, in a lacy bikini. Woohoo!  (Ralph: "Lacy Bikini, by the way, used to be my stripper name!") AND she's a comic book geek, too! 

Obsessed fan and blog creator Justin then came on the phone! Mandy: "I don't know whether to hug you or slap you!" Why did he decide to devote himself to her and create the blog? "I didn't have anything else better to do!" He's in college in Michigan. Ralph: "Do you major in Stalking?" Yes, he'll be getting the Maxim issue: "One to frame, and one to...you know."  Ugh! Bean: "To read, to read! I didn't like the sound of that at ALL!" Mandy: "You've been very sweet." Bean: "And 'sweet' is Japanese for creepy, right?" Ralph: "You're career's going to blow off, and we'll be like, 'Rembmer when we first had Mandy in? Now she's had that series, nominated for an Oscar twice, now she's been in rehab twice, killed that guy...we're look forward to your scandal-filled career!"

And that's just a summary. I recommend downloading the interview to hear it all for yourself. 13 minutes of Mandy interview goodness. It's good times all around.

Anyhow, thanks to Bean for having me on air and also to everyone else at the K&B show. And of course to Mandy for being such a good sport about everything!

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Omg Justin, you are the MAN. And Mandy has such a sexy voice.

1st!!

Long live Maxim and Stalking!

YOU KNOW!

Anonymous said...

I'll listen ot the MP3 tomorrow, but all I have to say is that she's hot. Anyone notice that the object of geek obsession (Elen Feiss and Mandy Amano)are both associated with apple products?



CONSPIRACY!!!

Anonymous said...

I finished listening to that MP3. All I can say is that I'll probably get 2 also. To read and hang. She ows you Justin, because she wouldn't have gained so much popularity without this site. I wouldn't be surprised if someone made a website about you, Justin.

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to post a comment on the stalker site.

I've never seen this commercial, so I don't quite yet understand where all the hype came from.

Anonymous said...

First of all, I heard the KROQ interview yesterday (3/16) and found Mandy to be delightful and articulate. Whether onscreen or on the radio, Mandy is a breath of fresh air, and I wish her all the best.

Having said that, how much $$$ is Pepsi/Apple paying Justin to "host" a blog that gives the impression of something grass roots and organic, when, in fact, upon further inspection, it is obviously just another tool in the mega-marketing of Pepsi/Apple.

This page, replete with links to Pepsi and Apple i-tunes, includes such "trivial" information as Justin's Favorite Movies - "Any movies with Pepsi in it": Favorite Music - "Any songs by Pepsi sponsored artists"; and Favorite Books - "Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple." The "hidden" agenda is far from subliminal. Are you with me so far?

The photos on the page are of such great quality that they reek as if they had been hand-delivered by Madison Avenue. It's common knowledge that BIG corporations frequently pay college students to execute "campaigns" that target younger demographics by pretending to spark a groundswell of excitement about the products they hawk. Justin lists his industry as "communications/media". Either he's a Pepsi/Apple pawn, or an enterprising student intent on impressing a current/future employer.

Mandy is certainly worth a second (and third, and fourth,...) look, but pardon me if I wax a little cynical about the true reason why the KROQ interview has directed listeners to "Justin's Blog." Meanwhile, I'm going to kick back, have a Coke and take one more look at Mandy's enchanting smile.

Anonymous said...

Ugh medio, blogger accounts are free, so hoting costs are a big 0.

And the reason why KROQ cited this blog is because no other blog has the pure devotion to Mandy that this blog has.

Anonymous said...

Yes, blogger accounts are free, so are radio interviews. Publicity costs nothing and that's why corporations rely on public relations in concert with advertising (which does cost money) to hedge their bets when marketing to the masses.

The reason why KROQ cited Justin's blog is because:

a) They had been pitched the story.
b) He was waiting on hold and they had to have something to talk to him about.

I hate to burst your bubble, and it certainly doesn't take away from the fact that Mandy is wonderful, but in an effort to appear "cool" and "contemporary" corporations use blogging all the time as a way to reach their desired demographic - especially in this instance when they're trying to reach people just like you and me - college students who blog and might actually drink Pepsi just for the opportunity to download free music online.

In other words, Mandy's great, but you gotta wonder about Justin's true motivation.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Anonymous said...

"Justin's true motivation?" (sorry, Justin, but) He's just a geek with means who saw a hot chick...for like, 3 seconds....wait, hmmmm.

Either way, we get to see Mandy in Maxim in May.

If you don't like it, "turn the channel" or click elsewhere, duh.

christian said...

Im sure the ads and such came as an AFTER fact when pepsi/apple realised they can capitalize on the publicity. and if justin is now making money on his obssesion, i applaud him. to be honest, when i first saw the commercial i flipped, that smile and that little dance is just amazing. im glad to see im not the only weirdo though.

Anonymous said...

Medio -

You are absolutely friggin' retarded.

Try a google search on Justin and pepsi girl. Your eyes might be opened up some.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, (Why do I get the sense that's your REAL name and not just a clever screen name?)

So I'm retarded (I prefer to be called "special") - I guess that would explain why I have to ride the short bus to school every morning. Thanks for clearing that up.

My eyes are open - which I highly recommend by the way when one is listening to radio interviews while driving in one's car.

Google is how I found the Blog in the first place, so I'm not exactly sure what that proves, if anything.

So here's what I think:

Mandy's a pretty girl in a commercial, but is she a phenomenon? No, one commercial does not a phenom make, but one can certainly hope.

Justin creates blogs and as such, he benefits from publicity as much as Mandy does, but is there anyone else in the equation who might also benefit? Hmm, hint: It's not Coke and Dell.

KROQ conducted a wonderful interview with the very pretty girl who has virtually nothing to promote, and with the enterprising college student who hosts blogs, and likely aspires to make a living doing what he does on a larger scale. Theres' nothing evil about that.

I've been in communication with KROQ and they were happy to have Justin "meet" Mandy because it made for great radio. I tend to agree that the interview went well.

So in conclusion: Justin, you sounded great on KROQ. You're doing a good job, even if I'm skeptical about your true level of fandom.

Mandy, you are a breath of fresh air, and I wish you all the best in your career. Hope to see more of you soon.

As for you Anonyomous:

As you're guzzling your Pepsi and listening to some of Justin's favorite music (presumably Pepsi artists on iTunes) try to be more sensitive regarding the needs of the (Pepsi) Challenged, okay.

:)

Anonymous said...

I charge that a radio interview I heard presented an unbelievable set of circumstances: Guy sees girl for a few seconds on a commercial; guy creates blog; girl becomes instant phenomenon; they both end up on my radio.

The little digs, and sophomoric testimonials you offer don't actually disprove anything.

It's a sweet story though, and the radio folks thought it would make for great radio to have Mandy and Justin meet "on the air" when they learned they had never spoken or met before.

It made for great radio, and as a by-product, it attracted visitors to the blog - people like me who apparently aren't quite as "sophisticated" as the likes of you.

The thing is, when I heard the interview on the radio, I wondered how a girl with nothing but a commerical to promote and a "fan" who dedicated a blog to her happened to get on the radio in the #2 market in the U.S.

So, I checked out the blog, and I must say, Justin is a genius (Pepsi logos and all that drivel about fave Pepsi movies and Pepsi music) absolutely brilliant!

The good news is that Justin succeeded in creating a blog that looks like a Pepsi Promo tool.

I'm not the only one to poke around and wonder if the blog was, indeed a Pepsi tool.

So Justin says, it's "real" and it's "fake". Now Justin has a credibility issue and the radio people have identified him as a "web king."

Mind you, I applaud Justin's efforts and his ingenuity, which makes your response so bizarre. You seem to be reacting as if I'm attacking Justin, but I'm not. He created a blog that reeks of Pepsi, then he came out and said it wasn't a Pepsi blog, it was a joke, how convenient!

So on the radio the blog was an homage, but the blog looks like a Pepsi promo. The blog offers a link pointing out that it's not a Pepsi promo, but I guess we'll just have to take Justin's word on that, huh?

It comes down to credibility, and Justin can't have it both ways.

I seriously doubt whether Pepsi, or Justin for that matter would ever admit that the blog was (pardon the pun) for commercial purposes.

Did you ever hear the one about the boy who cried wolf?

Credibility, my friend, credibility.

Anonymous said...

Oh bligityblah,

Poor little naive bligityblah. You didn't go to the moon, and this blog is a great masterbatory hoax. Pepsi-driven or not!

Anonymous said...

Why do I get the idea this Medio character is one of those "falsely clever" types... you know... the kind of people that thought Collateral was good because it was the deepest movie they had ever seen... or the kind of people that start listening to Modest Mouse and the Killers and think they are original after they are featured on TRL. These may be the worst type o' people, narrowly beating out racists and angry tyrants (I differentiate because friendly tyrants cant be that bad).

baBa

Anonymous said...

I think it's pretty much understood that Medio is a complete fucking moron. Justin has even made a post on this blog stating his history on the internet, and how this blog unexpectedly snowballed into fame, but there's no reason to bash Modest Mouse and The Killers. <_<

Umgawa said...

Given that I'm not about to sign up for a hosting service just to comment on Medio's site, I found the quote, He may not be a corporate rat (although there's no proof to the contrary), but he's disingenous to say the least. Score a point for me." to be utterly laughable.

Yes, we will now grant you everlasting cool points, Medio, for having discovered what we've known about Justin all along, even prior to this whole Pepsi Girl debacle: He knows that the general public is comprised of total fucking morons, and internet regulars have an even higher incidence of believing anything that is placed in front of them. This is how you get ninety sites out there that claim to have real nude pictures of Britney Spears (go and Google that, seriously), and people go there, often believing they've found the internet version of the Holy Grail.

This particular blog, I believe, pisses a lot of people off because it's taken the critics by surprise. The critics don't know what to think of it, whether it's sponsored or not, stalker or not, fake or real or fake-fake, and when they find that they're wrong, they tout themselves for discovering the truth, and then label themselves as brilliant. For example:

While it may not amount to a Pepsi conspiracy (but who's to say it isn't), neither Justin nor the blog are what they portended to be. Score another point for me.

Brilliant! The point system you've laid out for yourself has proven one thing: You were fooled; as fooled as so many media critics and wannabe-critics were, which calls into question your legitimacy as a critic. To use a motion-picture analogy, do you really think that Roger Ebert would still be working today if he mentioned to the public -even once- that the Blair Witch Project was a real documentary?

The answer is, probably not. He would have been laughed out of Chicago. So the question is, why should anyone respect a critic who was, and possibly continues to be, fooled or put off-balance by a weblog? Probably not, and therefore you should probably be relegated into that same category.

By the way, I have several posts on my own personal site that were written by Ben Affleck. And, if you believe that, then -yeah- this site is actually owned and operated by Pepsi.

Umgawa said...

One more thing about the "corporate rat" quote. If the McCarthy hearings of the 1950's showed us one thing, it's that it is virtually impossible for one to prove that one is innocent of an accused crime. The hearings were a perversion of our legal system, in which it wasn't necessary to prove people guilty; their guilt was assumed, and they had to get out of it. I'm not a Communist, but I can't prove that, just as I can't prove that I don't work for Pepsi. However, if someone else can prove that I do, then by all means I must be guilty.

Therefore, I would call on Medio, and all other conspiracy theorists and advertising critics out there, to prove; not pretend, not assume, not theorize, but prove that there is a definite and legitimate link between the Pepsi marketing department and this site. Critics are, by definition, journalists, and journalists chase down the truth.

So, good hunting to you, and I sincerely doubt that you'll come up with anything. However, remember what we've learned from McCarthy: Professions of innocence are not admissions of guilt, and the accuser must prove his case before the defense even needs to speak.

JustSumDude said...

Medio is dumb ...



















... Drink Pepsi.

Anonymous said...

Justin > Medio

Anonymous said...

The sad part is that while you're all stroking yourselves in full mastabatory splendor, you're actually stroking yourselves to Justin and not Mandy (remember her, the innocent ingenue in all of this?)

Justin's masterstroke is that while on the radio he claims to have constructed an homage to Mandy, however, he's actually built a pleasure palace for like-minded geeks and dweebs to bow down and worship at his feet.

Bravo, Justin!
Now that's mass manipulation.

I guess that makes me the moron again, huh?

Nice testimonial: "If you've known Justin for 4 years, as I have, and talk to him almost daily then you'd be in on it."

I guess since you know Justin best you get the prize!

Well, smart guy, I know Justin a whole lot better than you think, and if he's as clever as I know he is, the joke has clearly been on you since Day One.

Have fun being manipulated. See you losers on April 1st - your very special day!

Umgawa said...

Medio's last comment disappoints me, because it makes absolutely no defense against my previous two comments that imply his -nay, state his ineptitude as a would-be critic.

Furthermore, Mandy Amano is only being disregarded by this group for the reason that critics and their ilk question the legitimacy of this site, particularly whether it's directly supported by Pepsi. As I have stated before, it's the job of the journalist, the job of the accuser, to seek out and expose the truth. That said, I wonder if the fire's gone out of him, because he's realized that he's going to have to do some actual work, rather than just make accusations and speculations, because what little credibility he might have had is now shot.

By the way, Medio, if I'm using too much legalese for you, it's because I'm actually a Pepsi lawyer, running a fake site under the guise of being a Target employee. The CIA has got nothing on the Pepsi marketing department when it comes to establishing a fake identity.

Anonymous said...

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Take A Pepsi Survey And Get
Paid $300 In The Next 15 Minutes!
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Ha Ha Ha

Anonymous said...

bligityblah? Yamo gao cho ah!

Anonymous said...

Wait, Justin said something and didn't really mean it?

Wait, Pepsi and Apple would be happy that someone is pimping their stuff for them?

Wait, Justin really likes it when we say he's cool?


That's pretty crazy stuff right there man. I think you might be going out on a limb a bit.

Anonymous said...

Medio, were your dropped on your head as a child?

Normally, during civilized debate/discussion, one should defend or attack the subject at hand. For instance, you attack Justin as a "corporate rat." Umgawa successfully annuls your argument. You attempt to support your own argument with some vague implicit statement regarding masturbating to Mandy Amano, and not Justin; Justin has somehow manipulated us to masturbate to Justin and not Amano.

You should also take everything here with a grain of salt, as should everything on the internet. Just because someone highly touts a certain commercial does not mean that he/she was paid. If I made a blog regarding Pokemon, would you accuse me of being paid by Nintendo and Game Freak? Most likely not because it is more common for people to profess their fandom of TV Shows and Movies rather than commercials. If you look on the internet, there are a plethora of websites that praise certain commercials. If all of those blogs and websites were to be paid for by "corporate rats," I'm quite sure many of those companies would be bankrupt.