Each month, iParenting.com features a "Dad of the Month" who is recognized for not only being an excellent father and dedicated to his children, but also for having special qualities that they appreciate. "Daddy" Brad Powell from our very own parenting video network, DadLabs - Taking Back Paternity, was named the "Dad of the Month" for May! Thanks to Renee Roberson from iParenting.com who wrote a great profile about Brad and the rest of the DadLabs crew (including Brad's Green Chili Stew recipe).  We love the site and appreciate the support!

What do you give a guy that has traveled around to some of the remotest parts of world and is featured in a Lonely Planet video of him taking the polar plunge in Antarctica? An awesome job at New York City based online media company For Your Imagination as the Director of Business Development! Dave has that great blend of sales experience, charisma, nerves of steel and an understanding of web video monetization. Welcome aboard Dave!

Official biography: Born in Baltimore, Dave Ford attended the University of Maryland where he studied marketing. His experience in advertising, sales, and account management started in the radio business in Baltimore working for Hearst Radio's WIYY-FM, 98 Rock. From there Dave moved to the Washington DC market and worked for an additional 3 years at Clear Channel's rock station, WWDC-FM, DC101—the same station where Howard Stern got his start. He has managed advertising campaigns for Toyota, Coca-Cola, Apple, Discovery Channel, Washington Post.com, Hair Cuttery, and the WWE. In 2007 Dave took a one year sabbatical from work and traveled through South America, North America, and Africa. While traveling he climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, trekked through both the Andes and the Amazon, and sailed below the Antarctica circle.  He logged his journey at www.daveforddoesearth.com.

New York City based online media company For Your Imagination today announced the next round of artists and new developments surrounding their popular series, LIVE@FYI, a web series devoted to showcasing the best and most promising artists the music industry has to offer.

LIVE@FYI joined forces with JamNow to bring Blessid Union of Souls in front of the cameras on Friday, May 2nd in the For Your Imagination studio.  Best known for their Top Ten single “I Believe,” the Cincinnati-based quintet will be on tour all summer.  The partnership with JamNow will be a strategic one, allowing each company to promote their programming to a wider base of fans.  Both companies will also combine certain resources including the bookings of artists while partnering on the technical aspects of the show.  

“The partnership with JamNow was a good fit for us both in terms of widening our reach and allowing us some more technical flexibility in how we present the show,” said John Henkel, For Your Imagination’s Vice President of Artist and Industry Relations.  “Our combined ability to book artists along with our video crew and JamNow’s start of the art audio made this an easy decision.”

Singer-songwriter Jay Clifford follows on May 8th as part of his nationwide Spring Acoustic Tour 2008.  Jay will be performing songs from his recent debut Driving Blind and is working with Scrubs star and actor Zach Braff on the video for his new single “Know When To Walk Away.”

On May 9th, LIVE@FYI makes its first foray into hip-hop with a performance by the skyrocketing Blitz The Ambassador.  Blitz will be performing alongside DJ J. Period, marking the first official collaboration between the two.

May 15th will feature an exclusive online performance from red hot MC Joe Budden with a performance the following day from Blue Note’s The Wood Brothers.    

Each episode of LIVE@FYI will be streamed live over the Internet using the live online broadcasting platform Mogulus, and consists of both a live performance as well as intimate discussions with the artists and behind the scenes moments. The show is hosted by For Your Imagination’s own Jon Johnnidis.  The show can be found at www.liveatfyi.com.

At the April 2008 BigScreen LittleScreen meetup, a group of superstar YouTubers gathered - Nalts, TheHill88, Mr. Safety and xgobobeanx - and shot a funny video about the one thing that unites them all, see below. This group of four highly creative people represent over 53 million YouTube video views and over 203K subscribers and they were sitting all together on the couch in the For Your Imagination studio. We are never going to clean those cushions.

Daisy Whitney, TelevisionWeek’s new media reporter and host of the New Media Minute, believes in "equal opportunity objectification of the sexes" therefore she is hosting the first annual New Media Minute-TVWeek Tournament for the Hottest Male Web Host. Amongst the twelve nominees are two of For Your Imagination's hot male hosts, so make sure you vote by May 2nd to help them get into the next round!

In the first corner, you have "The Battle of the Sweet Guys" between Troy Lanier, host of Gear Daddy on DadLabs and Michael Somerville from Love, Somerville. That Troy really is a sweetie with the ladies! 

Then you have "The Battle of the Eric/Ericks" between the newest member of the For Your Imagination network, Eric Gunnar Rochow from The Green House and Erik Beck from Indy Mogul. Hands down Eric wins here. Come one, he is weilding a chain saw in his picture!