gin and topics Happy Friday Spin Sucks Community! It’s Gin and Topics time! As Gini mentioned last week, she is taking a well-deserved week off. So, you know what that means… I’m your host today! Welcome to the Guest Edition of Spin Sucks, brought to you by #MikeistheBest (Please hold your applause until the end) I wanted to try and get a little cheeky and call it Whiskey & Words (because whiskey is WAY better than gin, and words because, well, there weren’t any video-related terms I could think of that begin with “W”), but I decided not to push my luck. Gini’s trusting me enough as it is. So I’m going the other way. Even though, as Gini noted, I am funny (all the time), I’m taking Gin and Topics very seriously this week. If I’m too funny, and you all love me too much, Gini might give it to me full time. Eep. Point of fact, while Gini makes Gin and Topics look easy, it’s not. Whose do you choose? Which one(s) do you call out? What’s appropriate? What’s not?? To reference a bit of an inside joke, for most of today I was all… Mike Connell Flail However, I was able to pull it together. Mike Connell at work Thank goodness our Spin Sucks Community made my job easy by providing such amazing entries this week. Speaking of which…

Without Further Ado…Whis Gin and Topics

This week’s video entries are courtesy of Betsy Decillis, Paula KigerKate Nolan, Jill Manty, and Christopher Penn. 5. Bryan Adams and Taylor SwiftI have to admit I’m a bit of a closet Taylor Swift fan, but this one also hit home with the Canadian in me. Swift can put on a great show, and Bryan Adams is a legendary showman… together they gave me (Canadian) goosebumps. Enjoy! 4. Yale Graduation Speaker Breaks Up with Boyfriend During Speech. This one made me feel a little awkward. That feeling you get when you’re asking yourself, is this funny, or sad, or both? Ultimately, it’s clear that the answer should be… well, why don’t I just let you figure it out for yourselves? 3. Peaches! I love this song, although I had to do some searching to remind myself that it is (was) sung by The Presidents of the United States. I also love peaches, although who doesn’t love peaches?! Bring dinosaurs into the fray, and we have video magic. I have to admit I watched this quite a few times. Those crazy dinos and their peaches.

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2. Seth Rogen Reads Dramatic Dad TextsWith my recent discovery of Chat Fiction, I’m fascinated by any and all text-based conversations. How are the messages different? What if the person had said it IRL, via video, or with an email? On the phone? That’s probably WAY deeper than I needed to go for this one, but it’s all the more true when someone else reads them out. Regardless, these really crack me up, and I hope any communication(s) between me and my offspring never become fodder for late night comedy. Also, Seth is Canadian. Canadians equal smart and funny. 1. Amish man starts “Uber” ride service with his horse and buggy. This takes horsepower to a whole new level. Yes. I went there. Unfortunately, I can’t take credit for it. Anna Giles at WWMT beat me to it. “Four wheels, four legs, and good gas mileage.” Well played, Anna. Well played.

Contribute To The All-New Gin and Topics

Sponsored by #MikeistheBest! I know, I know… Gini does this WAY better than I do. But I tried, right? Still, whether it’s Gini or Mike, if you have a great video to contribute to Gin and Topics, please send it to us! The best place to send it is in the Spin Sucks community, but you can also email, text, private message, or Pony Express it (via Amish Uber!) to us. Whatever works for you. Send it to Gini or Mike. You’ll be rewarded with a link back to your content. Your beautiful content. Have a great weekend!

Mike Connell

Mike Connell is the director of client services at Arment Dietrich, an integrated marketing communications firm. He is also a contributor to the award-winning PR blog, Spin Sucks, the leading source for modern PR training, trends, and insights. Find more of Mike's musings on his blog, Communative. Join the Spin Sucks   community!

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