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A Report From the Shorty Awards
On Monday night we went to the 2011 Shorty Awards which were being held at the Times Center in New York City, about a block from Times Square. The Shorty Awards "honor the best people and organizations producing short-form, real-time social media content," but really they're all about Twitter. Famous for having dozens of categories to win in, including many that are crowd-sourced, as well as 140-character acceptance speeches, this awards phenomena is getting exponentially popular year-over-year.
We managed to squeeze ourselves into the step-and-repeat area that was deafeningly crowded with nominees and presenters clutching tumblers of the Macallan single malt Scotch, a joy that we didn't get to experience since, as your devoted reporter, tried to wrangle various celebs in front of our camera.
We managed to speak with (see video above) comedian, actor, and now Broadway star, Jim Gaffigan, who is currently trotting the boards in a new production of That Championship Season (if you're going to New York and/or know somebody there, this is a production worth checking out, earning high marks from the New Yorker, among others); Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls, who was the musical guest for the night, singing a string of tweets to the tune of "Friday" (see the video below); the current Miss USA Rima Fakih and current Miss Teen USA Kamie Crawford; Stephen Wallem, aka Thor of Showtime's "Nurse Jackie"; and Nadia G of the Cooking Channel's "Bitchin' Kitchen." We were disappointed to not speak with presenter Kiefer Sutherland, who was there but waving off cameras so it was not to happen.
We serendipitously met Los Angelino & LAist's resident garden writer Mud Baron, who was nominated in and WON the Green category - congratulations to him! It was a great evening for Mud and many others as the evening progressed with much entertainment. We didn't make it to the afterparty but we heard there was plenty more of the Macallan there, which makes us even more envious.
We hope to be invited again next year - please consider following us on Twitter before then.
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Miss USA, Jim Gaffigan, and Miss Teen USA at the 2011 Shorty Awards [Photo by Thomas Attila Lewis]
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
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