by Michelle Lentz

I often feel like Google and Facebook are battling to take over the world while Gary Vaynerchuk is slowly and steadily trying to take over anything related to a video camera.

You may know Gary from his various appearances on the Today Show or Conan O’Brien. Maybe you know him from Wine Library TV or his marketing site. Maybe, like me, you’ve heard one of his fired-up and exciting keynotes. Whatever it is, Gary is all over and he’s just extended himself a little further.

Gary now owns 50% of new venture / production company Obsessed TV with Samantha Ettus. From what I can tell, Samantha is sort of an expert on experts. She knows all the right people and knows where to find them and what information they can offer. Sort of makes her the perfect talk show host.

Obsessed TV is the traditional interview-a-star talk show format created for the Web. Their goal is to “entertain and enlighten while revealing the personalities behind its exceptional interviewees.”

While you might have seen Dylan Lauren gracing the cover of your favorite magazine, only on Obsessed can you gain meaningful insight into the passions and struggles of the hard working entrepreneur. While you may be aware of Lillian Vernon’s catalogue, only on Obsessed will you really meet the woman behind the brand and hear her powerful story. While you may have heard Peter Greenberg talk about travel deals on the Today Show, only on Obsessed will you find out how he met the love of his life and the path he traveled to get where he is. Every morning show in America trots out experts to tell us about their latest books and accomplishments. But only Obsessed strips away the facade and brings the people behind the names to life.’

The main host and star will be Samantha. At the end of each episode, Gary will steal the show with a 3-minute segment on wine. Samantha and Gary are targeting Obsessed TV at “the Oprah set” – women between 25 and 55. Below I’ve embedded a 25-min-ish clip of an interview with food writer Mark Bittman.

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Email: michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, Twitter: @writetechnology, Friendfeed: michellel, Blogs: Write Technology, Wine-Girl.net

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by Michelle Lentz

I suppose I’m posting this because it made me laugh out loud.

Gary Vaynerchuk, along with his brother AJ and Digg lead architect Joe Stump, have launched Please Dress Me, which is a t-shirt search engine.

You can search for your ideal t-shirt by keyword, tag (as in tag cloud), color, and price. I searched first on food and then I also did a search for animal t-shirts. Both searches turned up quite a few tees, all of which were incredibly unusual. In fact, I’d recommend this search just for fun – some of the t-shirts are hilarious.

Early reviews seem to indicate that while the t-shirts you can find are most definitely cool, they are also few. Apparently the search engine is still, um, loading up on t-shirts. But if you want to smile at some fun logos, or you want to order a nifty new t-shirt, it’s worth checking out.

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Contact Michelle with your news, apps, and events via email, Twitter, Pownce, or FriendFeed. Visit Michelle at Wine-Girl.net and Write Technology.

by Michelle Lentz

One of the many reasons I’m excited about a Wine Blogging Conference I’m attending in the Fall is that Gary V. is one of our keynotes. From what I understand, he’s as upbeat, positive, and excited in person as he is in his videos. That should be a great way to kick off our conference!

With that in mind, I wanted to tell you about Gary’s latest idea – his floating wine festival. Gary wants everyone to join him next spring on a cruise. Well, not just any cruise – the Gary Vaynerchuk ThunderCruise. If I had the money, I’d be there in a heartbeat. (Someone wants me to attend to write an article, right? Maybe?) The rates really aren’t that bad, as Gary has negotiated some discounts. The cruise is April 18-25, 2009 and includes wine events throughout the trip. The cruise is round-trip from Ft. Lauderdale, with stops on a private island, St Maarten, Antigua, and Nassau.

Yeah, I really want to go on this cruise.

Check out the video …

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Contact Michelle with your news, apps, and events via email, Twitter, Pownce, or FriendFeed.
Visit Michelle at Wine-Girl.net and Write Technology.

words and pictures by Brian Solis

Gary Vaynerchuk rocks! This is one of my favorite pictures of him…

It’s a little late, but in this case, late is definitely better than never…

Gary Vaynerchuk is amazing and one of those truly special people in life that we’re all better off for knowing.

Garyvee was recently in town celebrating a very special milestone, his 500th episode of WineLibraryTV.  CrushPad in San Francisco hosted the momentous taping at its San Francisco crushing and storage facility. And, since they were pulling together the local wine and geek communities, they also invited a series of incredible wineries to keep our glasses filled in  celebration of Gary and his achievements.

Congrats Gary, you deserve everything you’ve worked so hard to earn! You’re a inspiration to us all!

I’d also like to thank Erik Kastner who was kind enough to lend me his camera that night as my battery gave out shortly before arriving.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story:

Gary Vaynerchuk and Brian Solis

Andrew Mager

Erik Kastner

Sniffy sniff

Willo O’Brien and Amanda Schain

Erica Ogg and Robert Balousek

Jim Louderback of Revision3

For more pictures from Gary Vaynerchuk’s 500th episode of WineLibraryTV party, please visit my album on flickr.

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