nonsociety
Two Things We Need to Stop Doing, as Displayed By Mary Rambin
Richard Lawson · 01/10/09 12:15PMJulia Allison Kicks Off '09 With Emotional Outburst
Hamilton Nolan · 01/02/09 12:17PMJulia Allison Wants To Make "Fuck You Money"
Hamilton Nolan · 12/10/08 01:11PMJulia Allison: entrepreneur, feminist, hero of our time. She's publicly announced her desire to go to business school, and when she went to visit Harvard Business School the other day "quite a few people" had read her blog and came at her with all types of questions! So naturally she sat down and made a video about her intentions—not just for her own education, but also for her fake company, Nonsociety, which she would like to sell in 3-5 years. After the jump, watch Julia expound on her well thought-out scheme to make "fuck you [Nick Denton] money":
Mary Rambin Colonic Demands a Sequel
Sheila · 11/10/08 11:05AMOh, not again. Is this part of the goal of her startup Nonsociety—"liv[ing] differently"? It's Mary Rambin's second videoblogged colonic. Of course, the blog-your-colonic pioneer was Tracie from Jezebel. And Katie Couric underwent a colonscopy on her show, but that was to raise awareness of colon cancer, from which her husband died. This is more like ... raising awareness for unnecessary spa treatments. Internet: over. (Click for the video!) Update from Mary: "A shot of water up your ass to clean you out is helpful not harmful when done the right way. The procedure is certainly not “unnecessary.” Think of my video as a preventative measure against cancer. Our bodies store so many toxins from food (pesticides, chemicals, preservatives) and our bodies were not made to process and flush them out. We need help." Yes, we do. Here's her guide to eating healthy. OK, now click for the video, which should be taken as a public service announcement.
The Sniper Neg in Action
Sheila · 10/23/08 11:13AMA tipster alerted us to a comment left on the Nonsociety girls' new webshow, "TMI": "Great show again ladies! I love seeing what you're up to, and even what your snacking on!!!! And Julia [Allison], from one 'plus size gal' to another, congrats on the wonderful wardrobe. I wish I had your budget :) You look fantastic." (Christ, what an asshole.)
Julia Allison's 500,000 imaginary monthly readers
Paul Boutin · 10/13/08 01:20PM"My mom and Julia spent most of the time comparing their respective startups," Tumblr jockey Nick Noyes blogs about his dinner with New York's notorious nobody, Julia Allison. "Interesting statistic of the night: her site garners 500,000 visits per month." Does Nick mean Julia, or his mom?Because Quantcast places both Julia's personal site and her startup, NonSociety, at "fewer than 2,000 U.S. monthly people." Either way, Julia wisely lets her dinner guest publish the claim, giving her plausible deniability. That's part of Julia's cover-of-Wired appeal — she doesn't need a website. (Photo by Nick Noyes.
Online Intimacy-Faker Meets His Ultimate Match
Sheila · 10/10/08 10:29AMImagine you're a marketing intern at an online dating company that lets you video-chat with others. Part of your job is to give the lonely ladies out there a little webcam-time and pretend you like them. That's what tipster Corey does: "To be fair, it’s not so much an internship as it is emotional prostitution... It's weird and mildly unethical, but it pays well. I mean, if I have to let some 45 year old cat lady from Wyoming think we’re having an emotional affair so I can occasionally eat at Le Bateau Ivre, then so be it." We understand. But it must have been shocking for him to have the omniscient fameball trio of dating columnist Julia Allison & her Nonsociety friends pop up on his screen while he was emotionally prostituting himself. He must have felt like he truly met his match!
Julia Allison's Show Overpromises 'Sex'
Ryan Tate · 10/01/08 02:33AMProfessional lifestreamers Julia Allison, Meghan Asha and Mary Rambin launched a three-minute Web show, TMI Weekly . The serial is modeled after The View, according to the LA Times, although consumer goods seem to have been substituted for actual, you know, issues. Your Correspondent is about as far from the show's target demographic as one can be without collecting social security benefits or calling Barack Obama by his middle name, but he does feel comfortable making two observations: The program is supposed to be about "Sex. Tech. Style," but the only discussion of sex is a recurring joke about how Asha never has any. Change the tagline or live up to it. Also, the dog-fart chats really need to go. After the jump, a sample episode in which Allison reads from 37 hate-filled text messages from one of her dates.
Is Julia Allison's Reality TV Show Dead?
Ryan Tate · 09/30/08 05:35AMWith Julia Allison on its cover this past July, Wired confirmed longstanding rumors the internet fameball had a deal with Bravo for a reality show called IT Girls, based on her antics with handbag designer Mary Rambin and self-professed geek Meghan Asha. The development deal was to begin with just a pilot show, and it sounds like it might not go any further. In a roundup of some of Bravo's reality TV experiments this morning, Page Six said "one show starring three New York wannabes who start a Web site 'probably won't make the cut,' said a source." Embarrassing: Allison and her sidekicks recently leased a photogenic apartment because "we anticipate significant filming." Also, look who they may have lost out to:
Because It's Friday
Sheila · 09/26/08 02:27PMJulia Allison's Crew Having A 'Meltdown' Too
Ryan Tate · 09/24/08 03:52AMThe financial system is having one of its occasional bouts of uncertainty and depression but, hey, cheer up American economy, because fameball Julia Allison is too! In her on-again, off-again, oh-God-just-make-up-your-mind-already relationship with her own self promotion, Allison seems to be swinging toward another period of doubt and introspection. Perhaps you don't care because you're worried about starving in the street or whatever. But there's an honest-to-God company built on Allison's whims now, and according to her business partner Megan Asha there's now a "mini-meltdown" going on over whether the venture launched too soon. Imagine the horrifying revaluations that could ripple through the subprime protocelebrity markets as a result!
Julia Allison pal's Cisco ad fails Wi-Fi test
Owen Thomas · 09/05/08 02:20PMBay Area-raised biotech heiress Meghan Asha, who now lives in New York and egoblogs for fired Star editor-at-large Julia Allison's NonSociety, appears in an endorsement video for Cisco. The "Digital Cribs" lifestyle shoot has a brief product placement of a Cisco Linksys wireless router. Asha claims that she uses the Linksys for her home Wi-Fi network, which she calls "Geeking Out." Wait for the blooper which shows the whole setup's a fake, 23 seconds in:Click to view
How To Afford Your Dream Apartment: Lifestream!
Sheila · 09/04/08 03:56PMNonsociety—it's more than a website, it's a way to "Live Differently." Oh, how we laughed at dating columnist Julia Allison's new "lifestreaming" website that repackages her (and her friends') lives—and is thought to be a run-up to some sort of reality show/dating web show/something. (We called it a professional Tumblr!) But when the Terrible Trio started lifestreaming their search for a giant, airy live-work space, our laughter abruptly stopped. Nothing creates envy in a New Yorker like real estate envy. How does a website that doesn't generate any revenue afford it? We did the unthinkable and asked Julia.After the initial pleasantries were exchanged (Julia: "I thought I was off your radar. It was quite peaceful." Sheila: "It was peaceful for me, too."), Julia denied that Bravo, the network said to be producing a reality show starring the Nonsociety girls, was financing the space. But were they looking for a space that is... filmable, let's say? "Let's put it this way," Julia said. " We need office space that is ... unique. Cameras are a part of our everyday lives, and we anticipate significant filming. I will also be living in the space. Mary may be. Meghan owns a place already so she'll simply be working there." But what about the money? "If you look at it logically, most businesses pay about 5-6k for office space for 5-6 people, which is what we have. Add that to what I already pay for my rent ($2,500/month — Ed) and you have a financially sound decision." So, is Nonsociety—meaning the website's investors—footing half the bill? "Yeah, but it's money we've made, not investors." But how does the website even generate revenue? It's sort of impossible. We'd go so far as to say there is no revenue yet. Well, whatever—genius! They are about to score a sweet live-work pad (tax write-off!) and we're not. Fine, JA—you win this round.
Mary Rambin Attacks A "Stupid Bitch" To Spice Up Her Lifestream
Ryan Tate · 08/17/08 11:08PMEven those who care nothing for the "lifestreaming" website NonSociety, the Bravo reality TV show pilot being spun off from it or the fameballs behind it can appreciate the fundamental truth on display on the site this weekend: Conflict is central to any "reality" driven broadcast. Without conflict, reality television would be watched mainly by sociology professors and prison inmates. That's why producers in the genre tend to seek out dramatic clashes of any sort, going so far as to line up racists, sexists and just overall idiots for their casts. It's also why the most interesting thing posted so far to NonSociety, one month in, is recently-insecure designer Mary Rambin's tiff with bitch-blogger Frangy over... well, over whether two streets intersect. Spoiler: Things do not end well for poor Mary.
MC Hammer proves he's the original fake-startup guy
Owen Thomas · 08/14/08 01:40PMRapper turned startup advisor MC Hammer recently swanned through the San Francisco offices of Imeem, praising the music startup for its "beautiful women." Why are startups so prone to opening their doors to the man formerly known as Stanley Kirk Burrell? Attention from a pop star, however marginal, however faded, provides the insecure geeks who run these companies with priceless external validation. Their work must be important — why MC Hammer came to our offices and ogled our female coworkers! The sad thing is that Burrell has been working the startup circuit since the last bubble.I remember when he swanned into the offices of eCompany Now, a long-gone tech-business magazine I worked at, in 2000, camera crew in tow. They were working on a documentary about a "startup" that never materialized. There you go: Even that part of Julia Allison's business plan isn't original.
Even Noncelebrities Need Interns
Sheila · 08/13/08 09:04AMFake it 'til you make it, as the saying goes. Noncelebrity Julia Allison is doing just that, advertising for three interns to do God knows what—in the words of the current intern, "One day you might be picking up dog for food [our dogs] Lilly and Mason, and the next you're researching great date spots or the newest gadget." We know, you're thinking "Why does one need an intern to help you run your professional Tumblr?" After the jump, actual evidence of what the last intern did: collect quotes from gushy reader e-mail for Julia's vanity-project "personal collection."
I Finally Figured Nonsociety Out
Sheila · 08/11/08 09:07AMWell, we had a staff drinks party on Friday night and more than a few of us, who cover dating columnist Julia Allison for no small part of our living—she's become to bloggers what Britney Spears was to the Los Angeles paparazzi, twenty percent of their business—found it difficult to tear ourselves away from the topic of the baffling new website Allison has started with her two friends, Nonsociety. "What is the product?" I asked. Obviously reality TV and the Internet have conflated to make fame completely post-product, no singing or dancing required. I don't even know why I spend time thinking about this—it's like a disease. And I think I figured it out.They'd like to think that they're Sex and the City, but it's simply another version of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the surrealist cartoon starring a self-aggrandizing, loud milkshake, a stupid-funny childlike meatball, and a semi-intelligent box of french fries. (You wonder, though, why Frylock wastes his time hanging out with the other two.) I'm just saying: match them up. Just match them up. (And keep guessing re: Carl.)
Inside The Nonsociety Cattle Call
Hamilton Nolan · 08/08/08 12:50PMWe asked for spies to infiltrate (far too dramatic a term, really) the Julia Allison/ Nonsociety pilot show shoot yesterday. We know the event caused a good deal of drama amongst the fameballs themselves; but what was it like for the average attendee, drawn in by the heady promise of proximity to Mary Rambin and co.? Gawker commenter Rolls Royce Revenge obliged by sending us a full report on the doings. The full tale of the "profoundly weird" experience (and JA's "steaming heaps of charisma"), after the jump:
Nonsociety's Fake Launch Party Ends in Secret Tension
Sheila · 08/08/08 10:11AMOh no! The fake launch party for the website of dating columnist Julia Allison and her fameball girlfriends—filmed for a pilot that will probably never air for their alleged reality show—ended in drama. Luckily, the girls have their lifecasting blogs to express their feelings. (We hope they've signed up for group therapy as they launch their business—crying it out is important!)