Amanda Congdon

Infobox Internet celebrity
name = Amanda Congdon


imagesize = 250px
caption = Amanda Congdon promo shot
birthname =
birthdate = birth date and age|1981|8|4
birthplace = New York City
deathdate =
deathplace =
othername =
nationality = American
spouse(s) =
webalias =
period active =
host service =
genre = Video blogging
subjects =
influences =
influenced =
meme =
meme date =
notable works = Rocketboom
notable roles =
signature phrase =
homepage = http://amandacongdon.com/ Amanda Congdon (born August 4 [ [http://www.rocketboom.com/vlog/rb_05_aug_04 Rocketboom : thursday august 04, 2005 : special feature ] ] ,1981 in New York City) was the co-producer and host of a weekly vidcast for ABC. [ [http://abcnews.go.com/Amanda/story?id=3897729&page=1 ABC News: What Are You (and Aren't You) Thankful for? ] ] She has an independent videoblog, "Starring Amanda Congdon". She is also co-president of Oxmour Entertainment along with Mario Librandi and was the host of Amanda Across America before it concluded. However, she is probably best known for hosting the daily news show "Rocketboom" (which "Salon" described as “one of the most popular video blogs on the Web.” [cite news
last = Geist
first = Michael
authorlink = Michael Geist
title = $20 million in publicity for $300
journal = Toronto Star
publisher = Toronto Star Newspapers
date = 2006-07-17
url = http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1153087815077
accessdate = 2006-07-20 ] ), which she hosted and produced until 23 June 2006. She is still the co-owner (49%) of Rocketboom but a controversial dispute between her and the 51% shareholder Andrew Baron has resulted in her no longer hosting or producing the show. She also was the co-executive producer of "JETSET" (now EPIC-FU) for the first several episodes of that show. [Cite web
title = what is jet set show?
work = JETSET
url = http://jetsetshow.com/about/
accessdate = 2006-08-25 ]

Congdon was born and raised in Manhattan and graduated magna cum laude from Northwestern University.Cite web
last = Congdon
first = Amanda
title = Amanda Congdon Bio
url = http://www.amandacongdon.com/Bio
accessdate = 2006-08-25 ] Once she graduated she took a job at Saatchi & Saatchi, an advertising agency.Cite web
last = Swerdloff
first = Alexis
title = Amanda Congdon
work = Paper Magazine
url = http://www.papermag.com/freeformimages/2006/bp2006/amanda_congdon.html
accessdate = 2006-08-25 ] She had leading roles in Waafrika (Red Room Theater) and Independence (Manhattan Theatre Source) and, during the second season, appeared as the coat check attendant on Rocco's The Restaurant. She has also appeared on , The Chris Rock Show (on HBO), a Showtime pilot and Cake Presents. She can be seen in a Northstar music video which aired on MTV2, FUSE, and VH1's My Coolest Years.

Involvement with Rocketboom

Congdon began as Rocketboom's anchor with the show's 26 October 2004 debut and gave her own reports, often with a comedic slant.

As she went from an initial 700 viewers in 2004 to 70,000 viewers in Rocketboom's first ten months, her success was noted by "CBS Evening News", "Wired", the Associated Press, and others. "BusinessWeek" labeled it "the most popular site of its kind on the Net". More viewers visited Rocketboom after a 11 June 2006 interview with Congdon on CNN. [cite news |publisher=CNN |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/11/rs.01.html |title=Transcript of Howard Kurtz interview with Amanda Congdon |date=2006-06-11 ] The following day, ABC News described her usual approach:Her audience continued to increase, going from 100,000 vlog viewers at the end of 2005 to 300,000 by the spring of 2006. Congdon's catapult to fame was noted in the media.

Congdon sometimes went on the road. One memorable episode showed her dancing in various locations throughout St. Petersburg, Russia. She has also performed her frenetic signature dance in the streets and parks of Austin and other cities. In some episodes, Congdon appeared in various Manhattan locations, talking to store managers and people on the street. In the 15 April 2005 episode, she stood in Washington Square Park and posed the question "Mac or PC?" to anyone walking by. [Rocketboom — " [http://www.rocketboom.com/vlog/archives/2005/04/rb_05_apr_15.html Mac or PC?] "] Eight months later, she returned to the same spot to ask, "Internet Explorer or Firefox?" [Rocketboom - " [http://www.rocketboom.com/vlog/archives/2005/12/rb_05_dec_02.html Internet Explorer or Firefox?] "] In an Office Pirates video parody of Rocketboom, Manhattanites were asked, "Coffee or tea?", and Congdon's news desk idiosyncrasies — her signature head swivel, "hair flip" and habitual paper tossing — were also mocked. [cite web |author=zakcarr |title=Rocketboom Replacement | url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-x_4W3i4gg&eurl= |publisher=YouTube |accessdate =2006-07-18 ]

Rocketboom's flexible format allowed her to display her abilities as a monologist, unleashing a variety of comedy characters, both male and female. On a few occasions, she has been seen in sketches with her brother, Andrew Congdon, and her friend Leila Meninski, who does a character called aLexus — "like the car".

Rocketboom's "Comments" message board indicated that many viewers visited the vlog solely to see Congdon. Many messages remarked on her physical appearance, and requests for dates were posted occasionally by her male admirers. In a reference to Laura and Amanda Wingfield of Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie", one viewer labeled that group of hopeful suitors "Miss Amanda's gentlemen callers".

Departure from Rocketboom

On 5 July 2006, Congdon released a video statement on her blog, Amanda UnBoomed, announcing her departure from the show. [Amanda Unboomed - " [http://amandaunboomed.blogspot.com/2006/07/amanda-unboomed_05.html Announces retirement from RocketBoom] "] Andrew Baron, majority stakeholder of Rocketboom, claimed she was leaving the show to "pursue opportunities ... in Hollywood" [cite news
url = http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/interactive/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002800110|publisher=MediaWeek
first=Mike
last=Shields
date=2006-07-05
title=Congdon Flames Out at Rocketboom ] and Joanne Colan stepped in as Congdon's replacement.

Congdon maintains that she was fired and was living with her parents in Connecticut. [cite web|title=For the Record|publisher=Amanda UnBoomed|url=http://amandaunboomed.blogspot.com/2006/07/for-record.html|first=Amanda|last=Congdon|date=2006-07-05] The same day as her announcement, Congdon received an open job offer from Jason Calacanis, the CEO of Weblogs, Inc. [cite web
last=Calacanis
first=Jason
title=Advice and an Offer for Amanda Congdon
publisher=calacanis.com
url=http://www.calacanis.com/2006/07/05/advice-and-an-offer-for-amanda-congdon/
accessdate = 2006-07-11]

Six days after her departure Congdon was interviewed on MSNBC. [cite web
title=Internet star tries to make it on her own
publisher=MSNBC
url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13832899/
accessdate=2006-07-13]

Amanda Across America

Congdon's first endeavor after Rocketboom was AmandaAcrossAmerica.com, a blog based on Congdon's travels through America in a hybrid vehicle. The show was produced by "mobile producers" Congdon, Mario Librandi, Rob Librandi, and Emily Golub. Timothy Shey served as stationary producer, and Rudy Jahchan developed the web site. [cite web |url=http://amandacongdon.com/roadblog/about/ |title=About |accessdate=2006-12-07 |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year= |month= |format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= ] The show was hosted by blip.tv. [cite web |url=http://amandacongdon.com/roadblog/thanks/ |title=Thanks |accessdate=2006-12-07 |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year= |month= |format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= ] The journey took a circuitous route with stops in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Tennessee, D.C., Missouri, Wisconsin, Arizona and California. The show focused mainly on interviews with activists and bloggers, but occasionally had episodes not focusing on those subjects. In Arizona, for example, she took a walk through the exhibits leading to the mysterious The Thing? roadside attraction. Also, in Los Angeles she toured Activision and took a behind-the-scenes look at next generation console video games Tony Hawk Project 8 and Tony Hawk Downhill Jam. Her trip across America concluded the week of November 20, 2006, with a Where the Hell is Matt-inspired video. [cite web |url=http://amandacongdon.com/roadblog/2006/11/21/dancing-across-america/ |title=Dancing Across America |accessdate=2006-12-07 |last=Congdon |first=Amanda |authorlink= |coauthors= |date=21 |year=2006 |month=11 |format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= ]

Television

Congdon is now puportedly developing a TV show for HBO.cite web |url=http://amandacongdon.com/roadblog/2006/11/14/special-announcement/ |title=Amanda Who? |accessdate=2006-12-07 |last=Congdon |first=Amanda |authorlink= |coauthors= |date=14 |year=2006 |month=11 |format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= ] The TV show is in the beginning stages, and will reportedly be a comedy. She was the hostess of a weekly video podcast for ABCcite web |url=http://abcnews.go.com/Amanda/ |title=Amanda Congdon on ABCNEWS.com |accessdate=2007-03-23 |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year= |month= |format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= ] and occasionally appears on shows like "Good Morning America" as a web correspondent. Congdon is currently appearing in a series of vlogs for [http://www.membersproject.com/home.action "American Express' Members Project"] and starring in TV ads promoting the activity.

It was announced September 21st, 2007 that her relationship with ABC would not continue at the end of the year.

Current project

Currently, Congdon is working on a video blogging project entitled [http://www.sometimesdaily.com `Sometimesdaily`] with Mario Librandi.

References

External links

* [http://www.amandacongdon.com/ Amanda Congdon official site and blog]
* [http://www.starringamandacongdon.com/ Starring Amanda Congdon]
*
* [http://abcnews.go.com/Amanda/ Amanda at ABC]
* [http://www.amandaacrossamerica.com/ Amanda Across America]
* [http://amandaunboomed.blogspot.com/ Amanda Unboomed blog (no longer active)]
* [http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1213064,00.html TIME.com (2006-07-12): 10 Questions for Amanda Congdon]

Audio
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5398075 NPR's "Morning Edition": John Ydstie interview with Amanda Congdon] , 11 May 2006
* [http://24x7.com/blog/podcasts/amandajulianne_podcast.mp3 Podcast of Congdon and Julianne Shepherd discussing vlogging and political issues] , 13 August 2005
* [http://media.libsyn.com/media/tsoya/rocketboom.mp3 Audio interview] with Baron and Congdon: The Sound of Young America

Video
* [http://www.xolo.tv/watchme/XOLOTV_7.mov Gabriel McIntyre interviews Congdon at the Soho Apple Store (8/5/05)]
* [http://news.com.com/1606-2_3-6083071.html?part=rss CNET: "Rocketboom Sans Amanda" (with 6/12/06 vid clip)]
* [http://www.amandacongdon.com/northstar2.mov Northstar video (as seen on MTV and VH1)]
* [http://www.rocketboom.net/video/rb_06_jun_23.mov Her last official Rocketboom Video, she talks of her stance on net neutrality]