via BigistheNewSmall

Marc Andreessen offers answers questions from a Stanford audience about topics from the state of VC and the stock market, to Facebook’s market dominance, to the rebirth of consumer electronics.

Last year, Variety reported that Twitter signed a deal with Reveille productions and Brillstein Entertainment to develop an unscripted TV series. Later Twitter’s Biz Stone said it wouldn’t be an official Twitter show. Twitter is allowing production companies to work on TV projects based on Twitter without endorsing one over another.

I have two ideas for turning what happens on Twitter into compelling TV. I shared one of the ideas on Twitter this morning:

I got two types of responses. Social media folks understood why it could be a good show because they see examples of peoples lives being positively changed or at least inspired every day. Other folks weren’t certain anyone could squeeze more than a single episode out of the idea.

Last year Amanda Rose organized an event called Twestival to raise money to provide clean and safe drinking water to over 17,000 people in developing countries. The event raised over $250,000. Since then Twestival has raised nearly half a million dollars. An episode about Amanda Rose and Twestival would start with a tweet and end with people filling bottles with clean water in a village somewhere.

May 20, 2009 Drew Olanoff was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Drew has a sense of humor about the cancer and started blaming everything from losing his keys to Twitter being slow on his cancer. He asked other people to blame things on his cancer too using the hashtag #blamedrewscancer. Drew’s goal is to raise $1 for every tweet blaming something on his cancer. Another episode would tell Drew’s story.

When Nashville flooded a couple of weeks ago, Pete Wilson tweeted a request for volunteers, hammers, trash bags and brooms to help with cleanup. Hundreds of people showed up to help. There are stories to be told about that.

Those are three examples that made the news. Other amazing stories of people connecting and helping each other in very special ways happen every day on Twitter. To me nothing is more interesting that hearing people’s stories about going through pain and coming out the other side stronger and with more depth.

I’m throwing my pitch out to everyone because I don’t mind if someone other than me makes it happen. I’d love to work on a project like this, but I’d also like it if someone else wants to make it happen.

The quick pitch is Extreme Makeover Home Edition meets Twitter meets On the Road with Charles Kuralt.

Do you have an amazing Twitter story to share? Leave a comment!

via @SwitchingGranny

In life we try to have empathy for people when they go through hard times. In my life, if I heard about someone loosing a loved one to cancer, I felt bad for them. I hated it for them, but ultimately I feel like I cannot begin to even get close to understanding what they were going through.

In the last year, two men in new media announced their marriages were ending. I’ve admired the work of both men and the marriages of both men. When they each announced their divorces, I was deeply saddened for days. I didn’t understand the sadness. I know them both a little bit on a professional level, but not very well on a personal level so the depth of my sadness was unusual. Looking back, I think I probably had a sense that my marriage wasn’t making it either.

There is no way I could have ever guessed how painful the divorce process is. Friends help in amazing ways, but unless they’ve experienced the emotional trauma of divorce they can only help so much. They try their hardest and you’ll appreciate the effort, but I’ve found it really helpful to find people going through the same thing.

At first, I attended something called RE|ENGAGE at Watermark Church in Dallas. It’s a dynamic, ongoing Wednesday night ministry designed to strengthen and heal marriages. One of the most unique things about RE|ENGAGE is its group sessions. There are couples groups, like you’d expect, but there are also groups for spouses who are there to work on their marriage without their partner. There are men’s groups and women’s groups. There is something powerful about hearing a person you don’t know, express in words the exact feelings you’re experiencing. The realization that you’re not alone in feeling the way you do is the beginning of healing. At least it has been for me.

I still believe God wants to heal marriages, but I’ve lost faith that He’ll heal mine before divorce is final. I’m switching from RE|ENGAGE to another support system called DivorceCare. DivorceCare is something that takes place in churches all over America. It’s a support group kind of thing where you walk through the pain with other people who are experiencing it too.

I’m not really in a position to hand out advice to anyone, so this is really just about what’s working for me. Friends have been amazing. Friends have also been frustrating when they haven’t understood, but mostly they’ve been amazing. Ultimately though, it’s been very important to talk to people who personally know from experience what this is like. That’s what I encourage anyone going through this to do.

It turns out we’re never quite as unique as we think we are and that’s a very beautiful thing.

Barramundi is a fish we first had when we went to Queensland, Australia for the Best Job in the World contest last year. It’s considered by some foodies to be the “next big fish” in terms of popularity. Barramundi is a white, hearty fish that seems unique in taste and texture. If I’ve ever come close to thinking a fish could taste like chicken, it’s with this one.

Barramundi is farm-raised in the United States and is starting to show up regularly in the frozen section. I got mine at a Kroger, and I’ve also gotten it at Wal-Mart.

Since the filets are thin, and it kind of has the taste and texture of chicken, it’s a good substitute for chicken or veal with a picatta sauce. I adapted my recipe from a couple others to make a single serving.

I gently sauteed the garlic in butter for 2 minutes and then squeezed in the juice of half a lemon. I added a little salt and a little pepper and remove the skillet from burner.

Each side of the filet needs to be coated lightly with olive oil. You could brush it on, but I used one of those olive oil pumps.

In the butter sauce, I pan fried one side of the filet on high for 3 minutes and then I flipped it and cooked it for about a minute-and-a-half more until it was cooked through.  I plated the fish and added heavy-cream to the pan. I mixed that all up and then poured what I wanted on top of the filet. I then added capers (after taking this photo) and salted and peppered like I like it.

It was good, y’all!

I love making Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon, but it takes time to read through the three recipes involved in the dish to pull out exactly what I need from the grocery store. For the recipe itself, you’ll need the book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

If you google something and don’t find and adequate result, it becomes your mission to put it online. I couldn’t find a simple shopping list for Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon, so here it is:

• Bottle of Burgundy or other full-bodied young red wine
• 6-ounce chunk of bacon
• Olive Oil
• 3 lbs. lean stewing beef
• 1 Carrot
• 1 Onion
• 18-24 Pearl Onions
• 2 Cloves of garlic
• 1 lb. quartered fresh mushrooms
• parsley
• Thyme
• Bay leaf
• Salt
• Pepper
• Flour
• 3 Cups of brown beef stock
• Tomato paste
• Paper towels
• Cheesecloth

Bon Appétit