More money than sense? Or TSTL.

     Have you tried Groupon? If you haven't, it's the latest online rage. Once a day you get an email offering you something in your area at a deep discount. Usually around 50% off. As I understand it, the company and Groupon split the revenue. It's a win-win-win situation. Groupon makes money (with very little investment), the businesses, which are usually too small to have much of an advertising budget, get huge exposure to new potential customers for no out-of-pocket cost, and the public gets to the opportunity to purchase something at a bargain.

It so works. Last November, one of the daily offers in my area was for 4 hours of French cooking lessons at half price, and I had that lovely moment of recognition when you're staring at the perfect Christmas present for a close friend. I bought it. She loved it. I got dinner at her house. Everyone won. How can you not love this?

And the cooking school told her class that they sold a thousand lessons off that one ad. I'm sure a lot of folks (like my friend and me) didn't even know this place existed. Win-Win-Win all the way around.

Groupon is such a success that imitators have begun to spring up like weeds in a neglected garden. Living Social. UrbanDaddy.

UrbanDaddy is the upscale version of Groupon. It's so upscale, it has a National group for large companies to market their deals and even a Jet-Setter group for really exotic, expensive "deals." I have yet to buy from UrbanDaddy. In fact, I have yet to be tempted by UD. But they do make me shake my head sometimes in wonder. Like the deal in today's email (National Group).

They offer you the opportunity to buy the Do Hit Chair.

There's no price in the email or any of the links it included and I didn't email the company for the price as they ask you to. (Could it be they're embarrassed to put it on their site? Or is this a case where if you have to ask, you can't afford it?) The comments on youtube put it around $6k. Now I'm thinking, you want me to pay six grand so I can make an ugly, uncomfortable chair?

Or is it Art? (Yes, that's Art with a capital A. You know what I'm talking about.)

That seems to be the opinion of this Atlanta station that did a piece on it.

You know, in romance, we have a name for characters who buy stuff like this. Too Stupid To Live.

Tag! You're It!

      I'm not sure how this happened but I may be ahead of the curve for once, discovering a new internet fad before it's so "been there, done that." It's called an Accent Vlog, and I'm sure it has linguists around the word salivating all over themselves. As a writer who's struggled with figuring out how to individualize voices, there's a little drool on my chin as well.

So here's the deal. Someone out there got this ball rolling (if anyone knows who, please share) and made up a list of words and questions and set it free in the blogosphere.  Some folks appear to have made variations to their list, but the most common list seems to be:

Accent Vlog Words: Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught

The Accent Vlog Questions:
What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

Here are some samples from Youtube.

From the American South

from Texas

from NYC

from the Carribbean

There's a lot here that's of value to writers, but for the moment, just enjoy. Have fun with it. See if you can find a "voice" from somewhere that's really different from how you sound. If you find any that are especially worth sharing, (and there are lots of posts, so I may not be as early into this as I initially thought) throw the link in a comment. Or if you decide to play, share that link, too. I'd love to see it.