Huge thanks to Mortified superfan Lisa who emailed us to say she spotted our first book, Mortified: Real Words, Real People, Real Pathetic, in the pages of the August 2008 InStyle magazine. Intrigued, we picked up a copy and sure enough, there it was... displayed on the bookshelf of Entourage actress Constance Zimmer.
We hereby nominate Ms. Zimmer as the newest official member of the Mortified BFF Club. Also spotted on her shelf? Middlesex (a book about a female teenage outcast) and Ulysses (a book about awkward teenage boys).
Congratulations to Mortified participant Maurissa Tancharoen, who co-wrote the pretty damn awesome new web series, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.
Mortified fans may know Maurissa from our latest book, Mortified: Love Is a Battlefield. In Maurissa's entry, "Dissed," she shared a diary that revealed her ill-conceived attempt to go from studious Asian girl to sassy, hip hop homegirl.
Dr. Horrible has a pretty great pedigree-- Joss Whedon, Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day (who writes a fun series of her own). But the show's secret ingredient is actually its score by Jed Whedon.
Anyway, we think you'll get a huge kick out of the show. Hopefully, if its a hit, it will help to bring more attention to world of online series (like ours, for instance).
Mortified deals with a wide range of issues that teenagers face everyday. From the cute stuff (songs, exams, crushes, bad hair). To the dark stuff (bigotry, depression, addiction, divorce, violence). Even though our project is rooted in comedy, we love to use Mortified to explore the full spectrum of what kids go through. The good and the bad.
Not surprisingly, one topic that we hear a lot of kids write about is suicide. And today, there is a suicide attempt every 42 seconds. Luckily, there's a great nonprofit devoted to helping people of all ages get the privacy and care they need. But as this organization is no longer government funded, they need your help to continue. All we ask is that you watch this video. If it impacts you, perhaps you will visit Hopeline.com and donate funds to help 1-800-SUICIDE.
Special thanks to our friend Frank Warren, who runs the fascinating PostSecret project, and who first told us about the hotline. Hope you can help. If not, forward this to a friend.
Ever wanted to know what Mortified sounds like not in English? Enjoy this TV news story about Skambyran: Mortified Sweden. The first non-English-speaking production of its kind, Mortified's Swedish production features all the same childhood misery and anguish... as told in a whole new language. While we've dabbled with foreign-language pieces in the past, this is our first attempt to build a complete show around it. So far the results have been excellent, and fans have packed the shows.
The bad news? You likely can't understand a word they are saying.
The good news? You can enjoy a sneak peek of Mortified Sweden without having to pay for airfare.
Congrats to Linda Backlund, Mortified Sweden's chief angstologist, who did a kick ass job in her first TV interview.
Our friend Jason Bitner from Found Magazine has created a fantastic new project, Cassette from My Ex. The site is a collection of personal essays written about mixtapes that people received while in relationships that are now kaput. In addition to reading about the music, you can even hear it streamed on the site in all its historic glory.
How much does Mortified like it? We contributed to it.
Many other captivating projects have emerged in recentyears devoted to mixtapes, too. However, Cassette from My Ex is among our very faves in that pack, focusing more on stories about people than the the music. Worth checking out.
