It’s always funny when someone’s “on-air” persona is compromised by some sort of leaked reality. This is one of the best I’ve seen.

The folks over at Brazen Careerist invited me to write a guest post, so I elaborated on some earlier thoughts. Check it out here.

It is a true honor to announce an official relationship with John Douglas, one of the most renowned agents in the history of the Bureau. His invaluable advice and experience will help to guide us in crafting a community geared towards free social expression. He will join the College Tonight team in an advisory capacity, adding a great deal to our already very experienced Advisory Board. I’ve posted countless times about the privacy problems with various social networking sites. This social network is not willing to compromise it’s already .edu-protected base. With innovative mobile technologies, must come innovative privacy strategies. As we continue to make some major announcements over the next several weeks, John is going to be instrumental in our efforts to maintain privacy. For further information on this relationship, visit the release linked above.

In what some people are calling a recession, and in what most politicians are calling an “economic slowdown,” there is one elite group of individuals who remain recession-proof: corporate CEO’s. After thinking about this for several weeks and watching nearly every industry fall victim in some way to the economic downturn, I’ve deduced that there is something seriously wrong with corporate America. CEO’s are being outrageously rewarded for failure. The poster-boy for this plague is Angelo Mozilo, former Country Wide chief, who recently forfeited nearly $38 million in severance and perks after finding himself subject to serious pressure. Gary Forsee, former CEO of Sprint, was actually given a severance package worth $40 million and an additional $84,000.00/month… for life. This is insane and completely ridiculous.

What logic is there in rewarding the already privileged for failure at the helm? As the CEO of a publicly-traded company who sold items on e-bay and worked for no pay during the first two years of operation, I am blown away by this reckless spending. The incestuous political-buddy system that obviously virally prevails from one Board of Directors to the next, abides by a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” policy. I would not invest in a company that functions so irresponsibly (Sprint). Poor management remaining once the scapegoat is gone, is indicative of a poorly operating Board. Case in point linked above. Perhaps, some of these companies need to take a page out of the Apple operations book. Steve Jobs, another wealthy man whom many of you may have heard of, made $1.00 in 2007, placing his faith in himself as head of a company whose stock must perform well in order for him to reap the benefits.

Most people are trying to pay rent/mortgages and put food on their tables. Meanwhile, these failing CEO’s are buying dozens of gold-plated pocket squares to wear to ballroom cocktail parties honoring the very politicians who influence the SEC into not pursuing the investigation of the convenient exchange of Board seats in corporate America.

CEO’s should be held accountable for their tenure at the helm. Imagine a blue-collar factory worker breaking an entire assembly line and then receiving a million dollar severance package. Talk about division of the classes…

The entire company has been very busy these past few days, and so this is the first opportunity I’ve had to address this announcement myself. We’re proud to announce that Lauren Conrad, star of the number one show on MTV, The Hills, is going to act as National Spokesperson. This will begin towards the end of summer, with more exciting announcements just around the corner.

This relationship is very natural because as stated in the press release, Lauren really has one of the rare, mature brands in young Hollywood. With most young female celebrities running around on insane bankrolls, but with apparently no funds to purchase underwear, it’s refreshing to have a young woman who stands as a positive role-model for young people across the country. As a current student of higher education, she’s completely in touch with our key demographic and will blend seamlessly into our expansion efforts. Despite the naturally edited nature of the show, Lauren has a unique relationship with her audience, as she is portraying herself in a variety of natural environments. No matter how many times Perez Spillton tries to defame Lauren, the fact remains that her maturity and positive brand ambassadorship is superior to that of nearly any young female celebrity of her status.

Because this post is coming several days after the announcement, we’ve had time to monitor the press and various public reactions. We’re overwhelmed by how tremendous the response has been- everyone is truly excited for what’s to come. Here is some of the coverage:

• Entertainment Tonight
• Pop Crunch
• TV Guide
• Digital Media Wire
• Lauren’s Official Site
• The Insider
  
• Social Networking Watch
• Start-Up Beat
  
  

Lauren will help College Tonight to preach actual social interactivity with a social network that isn’t tethered to a physical computer- an experience that’s anchored on the home computer, but one that takes full advantage of mobile technological advancements. More to come…

Completely unrelated to business, last Tuesday night I went to the Glow in the Dark Tour @ Nokia Live Theater. I’d never been there before and it was actually much smaller than I thought it would be, which is both good and bad. It’s more intimate than Staples Center- great for performance, but I ended up running into at least 20 people I hadn’t seen in years because there was a clear architectural flaw at the entrance, creating a horrible bottleneck. The concert was very good, but not as amazing as every other person in North America claimed it was.

On an absurd note, NOKIA Live Theater, a complex sponsored by a TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY, did not allow cell phones inside the venue. Anyone seen with a cell phone was immediately pulled from their seat, taken to a locker room downstairs, and given a ticket. In an era far beyond the whimsical nature of lighters being swayed in the air, why would a concert promoter, artist or venue want to seize the only viable light source during a slow jam? Beyond that, cell phones serve as communication tools for people trying to find their friends in other seats, people trying to stupidly play the cacophony of blasting music for their friend on the receiving end who couldn’t afford tickets to the show, or people trying to take pictures with their cell cameras to later brag about how great their seats were. Nokia Live Theater taking away people’s cell phones would be like Gillette Stadium only allowing the Amish to attend Patriot games. It’s completely absurd. The ushers took this “no cell phone” rule to unnecessary lengths too, grabbing some poor 14 year old girl by the arm after she snapped a picture of her friend seductively sipping a root beer.

Now on a completely ridiculous note, Jared Leto is insane. Directly after the concert had concluded and people began to file out due to the surprising lack of an encore, I saw a homeless-looking man in a hoodie stand up on the edge of a seat in the back row of the orchestra. This was about 20 rows behind where our seats were. The man literally ran across the tops of 20 rows of seats, in what was one of the most amazing balance feats I’ve ever witnessed first hand. The “300″ star ran at full speed across 20 rows of seats. To my good fortune, he decided that the row in front of us would be his strategic exit into the aisle, and so he swiftly kicked me in the shoulder as he jumped over me to continue his quest. I’m not sure if he was getting into character for “301″ or if he just likes practicing his circus-like abilities in front of throngs of people, but either way, the swift kick to my shoulder made me drop my turkey sandwich and made me very upset. He didn’t even end up running back stage or doing anything cool. He visibly ran right out of Nokia Live to whatever serious emergency was in need of his circus act.

If you ever encounter Jared Leto on the street, wear protective gear.

EDIT: Turns out he was in Alexander, not 300.   Alexander was terrible.  300 was not.  My mistake.

Shane Hirschman was kind enough to create an artistic rendition of our logo for the lobby of our office. It turned out so great that we then asked him to produce two more pieces. See them in living color below:

Fiona King over @ RN Central sent me an email earlier with a link to an article they just published. It has 101 great tips for college health and wellness. Check them out here.

Start-Up Beat featured a College Tonight pitch this week. You can check it out here.

Several College Tonight items are now being sold in the OnFire Store, including the infamous “Wanna Hook-Up?” tees…