MemeLabs, the online video contest gurus, have a new contest, and one that sounds pretty cool. Chip Wilson, the Lululemon founder, apparently isn’t dead yet, and to commemorate that, he’s holding a walk/run/parade/party …thing.

This is the 2nd year for the “Chip’s Not Dead Yet!” one mile, uphill race where all proceeds support BC Children’s Hospital. This race is different; you have the choice to run, walk, or parade in one of the various ‘waves’ that go up the hill. If you want to run in your underwear, so be it. If you want to run in a bridesmaid dress, go for it.

On Friday, June 20th, 2009, a busy street in the Vancouver neighborhood known as Kitsilano will be completely closed to traffic and the event starts. You run in “waves” of themes - all the superheroes together, all the animals, the gladiators… well, you get it.

The fastest one up the hill will win $20,000, but, you’ve got a chance to win $1,000 right now! Memelabs wants to know what your ideal themed wave would look like. Dress up as your favourite superhero or even run in your underpants! Tell us what you think would make for the best wave and you will have a chance to win $1000 in cash and one of our monthly prize packs! Enter here!

For a quick sneak peek of the race, check out the video.

Readers, I need your help.  It will take you 2.5 seconds, I promise.

It seems I’ve been nominated for a cool little event called the Best of 604. It’s a best of list for Vancouver based blogs, and since I’m based in Vancouver, I qualify for this cool little award.

So, please, head here, and please vote for BuzzNetworker as a “Best Tech Site”, mmmk?

I love lists. I make lists all the time… I want to be on this list. It’s just cool.

So, help me out?

You guys rock!  Thanks!!!

Richard Laermer, author of Punk Marketing and Full Frontal PR, and the co-author of the Bad Pitch Blog, has a new book out, called 2011 TrendSpotting for the Next Decade.

My first introduction to Richard was through the Bad Pitch Blog, and from that, I  picked up Full Frontal PR. Thought it was worth a look, at the very least. I didn’t know what to expect, and almost thought it was going to be yet another dull “here’s how you should be doing PR” book. I was completely wrong, and found myself sucked into Laermer’s writing style.  He doesn’t pull any punches and is nice and direct. The way I’d want to write a book.

When I was offered a review copy of Trendspotting, I jumped on the opportunity. I was expecting the same witty pace, the same direct tone and I wasn’t disappointed. Laermer doesn’t claim to be a futurist or anything of the sort; he’s just looking at overall trends and extrapolating those trends to take a look forward at what could be coming at us in the next decade.

This book offers 77 different ways to look at the future, and a million little tips on how people can be their own trendspotter. In a Mashable Conversation, Richard says “Every time I talk to people, they ask me ‘how do i stay on top of the trends? How do I stay in front of them?’ This book will be the user manual for the people who want to do this themselves rather than listen to all these goddamned futurists out there who are putting their finger in the air and saying ‘do this!’ ‘do that!’"

A passage in the first couple of pages of the book caught my eye and felt like it summed the entire book up:

So this new book is a rambunctious and not overwhelming training manual that presents an overview of the major trends that will affect this century and explores the ways these trends will shape the global environment, technology, political life, culture and society with a small “s”.

Overall, I really enjoyed Richard’s take on what the future has to hold, and reading the book filled me with a sense of …for lack of sounding totally cheesy …. hope and excitement for the future. Like I could get up and go do anything.

I would totally recommend this to anyone who is interested in letting their mind wander through the possibilities of the future, taking a look forward, and also learning how you can stay on top of the trends. I’ll have the top 9 ways you can become a trendspotter today in the next couple of days.

There’s two ways you can get ahold of this book for free. You can either head to FreeBabyFree , and download the ebook for free.

If you prefer to have an actual book in your hands, I’ve got a book here with your name on it. All you have to do to win a copy of 2011 Trendspotting for the Next Decade is leave a comment on this post. I’ll randomly choose one commenter and you’ll have a copy on the way to you!

Richard says the future is digital. What’s the biggest trend you see coming in the future?

I got an cool box o’swag this week from AideRSS. I totally wasn’t expecting it and so, I thought it would be fun to give my readers something they weren’t expecting either.

Between today (July 15th) and the end of the month (July 31, for those playing along at home) poke around and find your favourite BuzzNetworker post (posted after May 1st) and stumble it. Leave a comment on this post with the link (you’ll find a link to your profile as others see it like this: http://ccoplick.stumbleupon.com/public/) to the stumble et voila!

You can only enter once via stumble upon, but you’ll get an extra entry if you also Tweet your favourite post and come back here and comment with that  link as well. 

I’ve got 5 shirts to give away and the winners will be chosen randomly on August 1st.

In 2008, the summer solstice will occur at 23:59 hours UT on 20th June (Friday). It is the first time since 1975 that it hasn’t occurred on 21st June. The summer solstice is, as you may know, the longest day of the western hemisphere.

To celebrate, BuzzNetworker,  the Business Channel and b5media are having The Great Blog Off on June 20. Here’s the scoop:

1, At buzznetworker.com - and all over b5media - we will blog at least once per hour for each hour of the day beginning at midnight our time (I’m PST). Yep, that’s 24 hours straight blogging.
2, NO pre-posting allowed. So, everything that is posted will be fresh - or as fresh as can be whilst sleep deprived.
3, Guest bloggers ARE allowed and are, in fact, highly encouraged.

Yep, that last part means that I’m going to be looking for some guest bloggers. Ideally, you would agree to “cover” for me some time between 3 a.m. and 9 a.m. PST on June 20. But even if those times don’t work for you, I’d love to have you participate. Send me an email (look for my email link in the sidebar) if you’d like to be on the guest post list (I’ll get you confirmations, how tos and more details later). You don’t have to be a PR pro or a social media guru - but you do have to write something about PR or social media (even if it’s that you don’t like about it) for the Great Blog Off.

And it gets better.

The Great Blog Off is also an opportunity to do something good! The Business Channel will be taking charitable pledges (details forthcoming). If, for example, you want to donate $1 for every hour that I blog on June 20, you would donate $24. Obviously, flat donations are also appreciated. No need to pull out your wallet now - there will be more information about this closer to the date.

The b5media Business Channel will be supporting Accion International as our charity for the Great Blog Off. The mission of Accion is:

to give people the tools they need to work their way out of poverty. By providing microloans, business training and other financial services to poor men and women who start their own businesses, ACCION’s partner lending organizations help people work their own way up the economic ladder, with dignity and pride. With just a little capital, people can grow their own businesses. They can earn enough to afford basics like running water, better food and schooling for their children.

Basically, Accion helps small businesses all over the world to become established through small, manageable loans and business advice. This concept of microlending is fabulous and their payback record is impressive.

Charity Navigator gives Accion their highest rating for, among other things, having a low administrative expenses to donations ratio.

I am really excited about this event. I predict that it will be the most fun day of the year to read my blog! Keep checking by for details…