Hi friends that are still left here:

Typepad has served me well.  I've enjoyed my time here, and as I read back over the 850+ blog entries and several thousand comments recorded over 8 years, I do get a bit nostalgic.  However, all good things must end (and be reborn)!

Thanks to Virb, Nickerblog lives on over at shanenickerson.com!

I've saved all of the posts and all of your comments, which will always mean a lot to me.  I never meant to document my life.  I only meant to keep myself writing.  Turns out, you helped me do both.  

Come on over to the new blog.  This old Typepad spot will eventually be shuffled off, like old skin or a tee-shirt worn one too many times, or a dead body you have to hide because it's starting to stink.

Here's that at&t commercial I shot back in August. 

Director: Rick Lemoine

I'm building a new website using Virb (love, love, love it so far), and I'm in the process of consolidating all of my various tendrils woven throughout and around the internet into one portal.  I've been meaning to have a more modern shanenickerson.com for a while.  You know, easy to read, all of my work easily accessible, designed for mobile browsing, etc.  Finally, I'm doing it.  I'm keeping this good old blog right here, but I need your assistance.  Would you mind telling me some of your favorite entries you ever read here?  I know it's been a while, but if you can remember anything that moved you, made you laugh, cry, or shit your pants in disgust and/or joy, please let me know. I'd like to link from there to some of my more memorable writing.

As soon as my simple new site is finished, I'll link you...

You're the best....around!

I spend most of my time on twitter, as some of you know.  I've connected with so many amazing people that "real life" might never have provided me the opportunity to meet. It's one of the reasons I love it so much.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I tweeted Sophia Rossi. She is the cofounder of a website called Hello Giggles, which they describe as the "ultimate entertainment destination for smart, independent and creative females."  I jokingly wrote:

"@sofifii If I ever become a lady, can I be on @hellogiggles too?"

She called my bluff, and invited me to write a "Daddy Blogger" column for their website.  It was an invitation far too interesting and too left field to turn down, so of course I accepted.

ANYWAY.

My first article is called "Princess Zach."  Here's a bit of it:

He wanted to wear the Cinderella dress to the supermarket the other day.

“Sure,” I told him.  “You want your magic wand, too?”

“YES!” he said, and he ran to his room to get ready.

We drove down the street to Ralph’s, listening to the soundtrack from Tangled on the way.  He waved his wand around in the back seat, oblivious to judgments and pointless labels in the world.  As we listened to Mandy Moore sing about when Rapunzel’s real life might begin, I forgot about how people say stupid things sometimes, not because they aren’t thinking or “didn’t mean to” but because they are ignorant and archaic.

Read the whole thing here.

Publicschool

I recently performed at a storytelling show in Los Angeles called Public School, hosted by Natasha Vargas-Cooper.  I told a story I've never told before, mostly because it's mortifying.  It's funny though, and I think most people will be able to relate to at least some of it.

Probably NSFW.

1. “BLANK is the BLANK of BLANK.”  (ALT: “I’m the BLANK of BLANKING.”)

2. “Quote that is vague enough to clarify.”  -attributed to someone unexpected

3. Pun Using Movie/Movie Star/Book/Star Wars/TV Show/Public Figure. #cleverhashtag

4. Funny way to tell you about some thing I’m doing!

5. OH: “Some ridiculous quote.”

6. Funny Twitpic. “Funny Caption.”

7. {Something Dumb in the News} is clearly a sign of the Apocalypse.

8. RT an easy target celebrity (ie, Kim Kardashian). “Mean spirited response targeting his/her stupidity/irrelevance/vanity.”

9. “Wanna listen to some (UNIVERSALLY HATED BAND)?”  “No thanks, I think I’ll just (SOMETHING HORRIBLE TO HIGHLIGHT HOW SHITTY THEY ARE).

10. Response to some catchy music lyric. (ie, “Did we ever find out who let the dogs out?”)

11. Preachy generalization that is masked racism.

12. Current Event joke that sounds like it belongs on a Late Night Talk Show.

13. "ATTENTION (SOMEONE): Stop doing the thing we all hate you for."

14. “One thing” = “Another, more sinister thing.”

15. Wise observation, masked as a joke.

16. “One great way to (DO SOMETHING) is to (EXTREME EXAGGERATION THAT IS HILARIOUS).”

17. "I just farted/shit/masturbated something that sounded/looked/felt like (BLANK)."

18. Self deprecating slam.

19. FAKE celebrity RT!

20. “Something relatively unfunny, but I’m DRUUUNNKKK, so it’s hilarious!”

Which ones did I miss?

Hi.  Give me five minutes.

I spend a lot of time writing silly things on Twitter.  I blame the same gene that led me to work in Television.  I guess I enjoy a stage, whether it's a theater, a TV screen or 140 characters at a time on the Internet.  (I'm sure there's some deep-rooted psychological reason for spending most of life desperately trying to entertain people, but that's another post...)

If you spend any time online, you become desensitized to people asking you for stuff.  Everyone wants something, whether they're asking you to go see their show, give to their fundraising effort, "Like" them on Facebook (really?), ReTweet them, click their link and vote, give to their cause,  insist you "tell your friends!" about some damn thing, sign their online petition, or a million other wants.  Mix in the endless junk mail and solicitation phone calls that have become part of all of our lives, and it's exhausting, even when it's entirely valid. 

It's not that we don't want to help, it's that we're incessantly bombarded.  It's draining.

I don't want your money or your pledge.  I don't want you to "Like" me on Facebook.  I just want to tell you about a thing I did, and why.

A few years ago, I saw a news story about a kid who was desperately waiting for a bone marrow donor.  Her parents were pleading with people to register, hoping for a match for their little girl.  The father, with tears in his eyes, looked directly into the camera and said, "Please register.  You might be able to save our daughter's life."  Normally, I'd feel sorry for the family and then move on to Spongebob, but his words stuck with me.  I imagined myself in his situation; a father unable to help his child, and my heart broke.

As horrible as "becoming a bone marrow donor" sounded, I did some research.  Registering is simple.  Your profile is kept in a database, and if you are ever a match with someone in need, you get the chance to actually save another person's life. 

For me, that sealed it.  I've been registered ever since.

I'm not asking you to commit or pledge or agree to anything.  I'm just asking for you to consider it, maybe research it a little, and imagine the opportunity to be the reason why someone else gets to keep living.

Be The Match. http://www.bethematch.org

Do NOT try to jerk off a pumpkin.