This is the start of an email I received from Tami Queen at Vocus.

Countless accounts of “PR Flaks” who have spammed bloggers, mis-targeted pitches or just plain gotten blogger relations wrong fill the Internet. Don’t risk finding your next pitch blasted on your favorite blog!

As a Public Relations professional, it is your job to find every opportunity to get your organization covered and be an expert on the inner-workings of the media. However, the explosion of the blogosphere has left many confused and wondering: How do bloggers operate? What type of approach will get my news covered? How can I integrate blogs into my overall PR strategy?

The new media landscape calls for additional tactics and approaches to the PR practitioner’s toolbox. Download the FREE Vocus white paper “ Five Golden Rules for Blogger Relations” to get insights on how today’s PR professionals can successfully incorporate blogger relations into their PR strategy and build effective relationships straight from four of the top blogging experts in the industry!

It’s just so ironic. They send out a mass email about how to connect to bloggers? Really? What were they thinking? And the fact that they said “Don’t risk finding your next pitch blasted on your favorite blog!” made it just to tempting not to blast them on my blog.

Sending mass emails is NOT the way to connect to people. I’m trying to see the possibilities here:

1) They really don’t get it. That makes it so sad because they claim to be experts in this area.
2) This was their way of getting some blogger attention. I can just see the meeting now “Let’s send out a really stupid email that will get the bloggers yelling at us. There is no such thing as bad publicity, you know!”

Either way, I don’t appreciate getting this type of email.

Update: Here are some other blog entries about this same email:
Dear Blogger: Here’s how not to spam bloggers – by spamming bloggers
Check Out This Spam From a PR Flak
VOCUS Demonstrates How to Screw Up Blogger Relations
Don’t Assume We Know You
What Happens When You Spam Bloggers (Hint: It’s a Small World)

Naked man arrested for concealed weapon.

This may be the funniest headline I have ever read. Check out the whole story, if you dare.

Johnny Lydon (nee Rotten) is on Jonesy’s Jukebox (Steve Jones the Sex Pistol’s guitarist) this afternoon, and I just heard him say the funniest thing:

Is that the best of Bread CD? Let me see it. Can I borrow you glasses, Steve, I’m as blind as a bat.

Doesn’t really sound very punk does it?

It’s Friday, so I can be excused for an entry about cats. Here is a blog dedicated to cats that look like Hitler.

This one is my favorite.

This is a hilarious account of two people who had an Iron Chef battle in a Souplantation. (For those of you who don’t know, Souplantation is an all you can eat salad and soup restaurant.)

Iron Chef: Souplantation

Found via: la.foodblogging

Somebody found some great Valentine’s Day cards found in Indonesia.

How does:

you.ll leare bad limes
behind nothing bul good limes on uoui mind

end up on a greeting card?

See http://flickr.com/photos/markhurst/sets/72057594064325932/ for the full set.

The Daily Monkey is a great site. They have a new picture of a monkey and a monkey quote every day. They just don’t have an RSS feed yet!

via BB

OK, it’s not Friday, but I’m going to blog about cats anyway. After Krissy posted her desire for an apple oufit for Noah, I have to admit I want to make a fruit helmet for Tippit.

Wouldn’t Tippit look cute in one!

Found via Boing Boing

This is great. Someone has come up with an anti-telemarketing counter script. This provides a great script to follow the next time some annoying telemarketer calls. It might not stop the calls, but you might feel like you got some revenge.

Found via Boing Boing.

Arrested Development may be the funniest sitcom ever. It’s such a shame no one watches it and it is in danger of being cancelled. (Although there is word that Showtime may pick it up.)

One character’s name is a funny one: Bob Loblaw (Say it out loud), and here is a bit from last night’s show:

Bob Loblaw: Actually, I was going to stay in my office tonight and work on my law blog.

Tobias: Of course— the “Bob Loblaw Law Blog.” Wow. You, sir, are a mouthful!

Another really funny bit was when Tobias was a combination Analyst and Therapist, so he shortened it to: Analrapist.