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"Just a few pints down the local." Not that long ago a stag night was just that – your friends buying a few rounds before the big day. Then some adventurous souls decided to make a weekend of it, to Dublin or Amsterdam, and then, as communism collapsed and Michael O'Leary rose, to Prague and Krakow. As far back the 5th century BC Spartans toasted comrades who were about to be wed. Now it's estimated that 80 per cent of those tying the knot have a pre-wedding celebration: stag and hen dos of course – and now "hag" weekends for those who don't want to exclude friends of the opposite sex.

The active option

If you'd rather not be stuck in a pub, the Preseli Venture Eco Lodge (01348 837709; preseliventure.co.uk) in Pembrokeshire can arrange a weekend of coasteering, sea kayaking, hiking and surfing for groups of four to 40. The price of £229 for two nights' accommodation includes meals but not alcohol.

More into yoga than pink cowgirl hats? Canopy and Stars (01275 395 447; canopyandstars.co.uk) has a "Babes in the Woods" champagne camping weekend in Devon for 10-20 hens. A one-night all-inclusive package (except alcohol) costs from £195 per person.

Cheap and cheerful

For a quiet getaway, the Craigellachie hotel in Speyside (0844 414 6526; oxfordhotelsandinns.com) has a two-night, whisky-tasting break. Settle in with a few drams in the Quaich bar with its 750 single malts. The next morning there's clay-pigeon shooting and quad biking before you visit a range of distilleries. The two-night dinner, bed and breakfast package costs from £190pp. If the Only Way is Essex, Red Seven Leisure (0800 970 2744; redsevenleisure.co.uk) offers two nights' room only in Brentwood. The price of £157pp also includes a spray-tan and entry to Sugar Hut and Faces, from the TV series.

Vegas, baby

Las Vegas is perhaps the only place where you could successfully have a stag or hen do, wedding and honeymoon all in the same week, with a divorce thrown in for good measure. However, there's more to Sin City than putting it all on red. The Grand Canyon is within driving distance, there is fantastic food on offer and flirting by the pool is always free. Travel City Direct (0844 557 6965; travelcitydirect.com) offers a week room only at the Riviera hotel with Virgin Atlantic flights from Gatwick for £699 per person; groups of 10 or more get nightclub passes.

Lie back and think of England

Who says pampering just has to be for the girls? Well-behaved stags could enjoy a 75-minute bubbling mud and hot stone treatment at the Feversham Arms hotel (01439 772930; fevershamarmshotel.com) in Helmsley, North Yorkshire for £110. If, on the other hand, you're a woman who wants nothing more than to lounge around in a dressing gown all weekend, breaking a sweat only for an intense pedicure and a post-lunch poach in the hot tub, Champneys Tring (0843 316 2222; champneys.com) in Hertfordshire has half-board rates from £169 per person with treatments from £30.

The cultured option

Try a champagne weekend in Reims, where Grape Escapes (0845 643 0860; grapeescapes. net) has a two-night B&B break at the Hotel de la Paix for £489pp. Also included are Eurostar tickets and transfers, tastings at Moët & Chandon and elsewhere, a three-course dinner, spa visit and the chance to buy fizz and even have labels personalised.

Gentlemen can whip their culinary repertoire into shape at Lucy Cooks (01539 822 507; lucycooks.co.uk) in Cumbria. Courses for stags start at £35; there's even a brewery next door, which offers tours.

Budget-airline destinations

First stop for anyone considering a stag event in Eastern Europe should be the travel guide inyourpocket.com. It gives the low-down on cities from Druskininkai to Veliky Novgorod. Belgrade in Serbia (tob.rs) is a top pick. Wizzair (0906 959 0002; wizzair.com) flies there from Luton. Or consider Wroclaw in Poland (wroclaw-life.com). It's Krakow minus the crowds; Ryanair (0871 246 0000; ryanair.com) flies there from Stansted, or Wizzair from Luton and Doncaster. Ladies could hop on Ryanair, easyJet (0843 104 5000; easyjet.com) or Monarch (0871 9405 040; monarch.co.uk) for a weekend in Ibiza.

Who said that?

"Let's have a bachelor party with chicks and guns and fire trucks and hookers and drugs and booze!" – From the 1984 film Bachelor Party starring Tom Hanks

"A man in love is incomplete until he has married. Then he's finished." – Zsa Zsa Gabor

"Marriage is a gamble, let's be honest." – Yoko Ono

Stay local

In Newcastle you can learn how to handle six-wheel-drive cranes. One of your tasks is to lift the groom-to-be 20ft, rotate the crane and then make him abseil to the ground. Stagweb (0845 130 5225; stagweb.co.uk) offers the option from £115 per person in a group of 12, including B&B accommodation and nightclub entrance. More than 120 hotels and 30 guesthouses welcome stag and hen parties in Blackpool (01253 478222; visitblackpool.com).

Life drawing classes are available from Hen Heaven (01273 225 075; henheaven.co.uk) in several cities including Leeds, Bournemouth, Nottingham or Norwich from £29 per person.

If you want a base for a party in Edinburgh, take over an entire hostel. Haggis Hostel (0131 557 0036; haggishostels.co.uk) is near Princes Street and accommodates up to 34 people for £25 per person.

Get a group of friends together in Cardiff to design your own bespoke perfume. GoHen (0845 130 5225; gohen.co.uk) can fix it from £135 per person if there are 12 of you. The price includes accommodation at the Radisson Blu hotel and nightclub entrance.

Insider information

"If you have an accident on your stag do after 10 pints of lager, you should expect that your insurance claim will be refused. Some good advice: stay away from balconies and swimming pools at night, and leave your phone and wallet locked away." – Greg Lawson, Head of Retail, Columbus Direct Insurance

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Stags and Hens go large

BERLIN – Til Schweiger never stops moving. The German star is setting up the next shot in his new film: the action drama Schutzengeln (The Guardians) in an apartment loft in Berlin.

Like most of his German films, Schweiger co-wrote, directs and stars in The Guardians, described as an “emotional action drama.” Schweiger plays Max Fischer, an ex-special forces solider assigned to protect an orphan girl until she can testify in court against a notorious weapons dealer. Schweiger’s own 15-year-old daughter Luna plays the girl.

PHOTOS: 28 of Berlin Film Festival's Most Outrageous Movie Posters

As he blocks out the scene for the crew, Schweiger speaks in short, staccato-like sentences. As soon as they get it, the actor/director is out the door and down the stairs at a rapid clip. It’ll take at least a half hour to light the scene and Schweiger doesn’t want to waste any time. Hitting the bottom of the stairs, he jogs across the courtyard and hops in a ground floor window, where his editor is waiting to cut a scene they shot last night.

“I hate sitting around and waiting, that’s why I always have an editing suite on set,” Schweiger tells The Hollywood Reporter.  “It lets me work faster. A lot of directors, they don’t go into the editing room during the shoot. When they come back, they’ve forgotten what they’ve shot,” he adds, drawing on a cigarette. “That’s why their films come out a year after they shoot them.”

It’s day 15 on the Schutzengeln shoot. Schweiger plans to shoot till April. The film comes out in Germany this September.  This time next year, Schweiger plans to shoot the whole film again, with an international cast, in what will mark his English-language directorial debut.

“That was always the plan, to do it twice,” he says, “In Germany with me as the lead and then internationally with me directing but not playing the lead role.”

As an actor, Til Schweiger is hardly unknown in Hollywood. He played the knife sharpening, Nazi-balls-shooting Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. He had supporting roles in Garry Marshall’s New Year’s Eve and This Means War from McG.

But in Germany, Schweiger is a super-star. In addition to being the country’s biggest box office draw he is one of its most successful directors. His last film, Kokowääh, which he also wrote and starred in (with another daughter, the 9-year-old Emma Tiger Schweiger) made more than $40 million in Germany alone. Since his breakthrough as a director with Barefoot in 2005, Schweiger’s films have earned upwards of $150 million for Warner Bros in Germany, which co-produces and distributes all his movies here.

Warners is on board the German Schutzengeln and is believed to be circling the English-language remake. While his editor tweaks a scene in the film, Schweiger pulls out his smart phone and shows THR an email from Richard Fox, Warner Bros. EVP of international. It’s a rave for the footage of The Guardians shot so far, for Schweiger’s directing and for Luna Schweiger’s performance.

“You’re like the 100th person to read that mail,” Schweiger says, chuckling proudly.

Schweiger has a lot riding on The Guardians. Budgeted at $10 million (€7.5 million), this isn’t his most expensive film but it is arguably his riskiest. Nearly all of Schweiger’s German movies as a director – and all of his recent successes – have been romantic comedies. Moving to action is a big gamble.

“We haven’t done action movies in Germany. We had some attempts in the 90s but they failed,” Schweiger tells THR.

Homemade action movies have a spotty record in Germany. Thomas Jahn’s Tarantino-inspired action comedy Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (1996) – which Schweiger co-wrote and starred in - was a huge hit, earning some $25 million locally.

But Schweiger’s action-fueled follow up, the professional assassin thriller The Polar Bear (1998), which he also directed, earned around $5 million. And more recent efforts, such as the Reto Salimbeni-helmed One Way (2006), bombed taking just $1.5 million at the German box office.

“Germans aren’t action fans,” Schweiger says.  “The only kind of action that really works is Bond. And I’ve never done this before, so it’s a risk. But I love action films. It’s my favorite genre.”

Schweiger’s producer Tom Zickler, however, argues that the time is right for a German action movie.

“The market for romantic comedies is getting saturated, we’ve seen that the sequels to hit German rom-coms aren’t performing as well,” says Zickler. “If there was a time to try action here, this is it.”

And while Germany might be an untested market for home grown thrillers, one territory certain to welcome Til Schweiger as an action star is Russia. Russia is the only market outside of German-speaking Europe where Schweiger is a box office draw. He has been a star in Moscow since Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door aired on Russian TV in the late 90s – and drew an audience of 84 million viewers.

“The Russians are going to go crazy for this film,” Schweiger says of Schutzengeln. “The Russian male audience, they loved Knockin' on Heaven’s Door and they like my comedies but the Russian male audience is action, action, action. They are going to love this.”

Indeed, Zickler and Schweiger’s shingle Barefoot Films has already sold Russia rights to Schutzengeln on the action premise and Schweiger’s name alone.

As inspiration for his action thriller, Schweiger oddly doesn’t mention Tarantino (“he’s a genius but that’s not my style”) but instead singles out Clint Eastwood and, particularly, Ben Affleck. ?

“My main inspiration for Schutzengeln was watching (Affleck’s heist thriller) The Town, which for me is the best American film in years,” Schweiger says. “I’m saying this guy with just two films is the legitimate successor to Clint Eastwood. Affleck is the new Clint Eastwood.”

Like Affleck, Schweiger’s The Guardians hopes to combine full-on action sequences (one rough cut scene screened for THR resembled a Luc Besson OTT shoot-out) with a heart-on-sleeve storyline. Schutzengeln, he points out, is actually an emotional drama about a man and a young girl who learn to trust and love each other. With a lot of bullets thrown in.

“It’s my most ambitious film.  And it’s going to be my best,” Schweiger says.

The crew has finished setting up the next shot. Schweiger jumps out the ground floor window and hoofs it up the stairs. After wrapping Schutzengeln, the tireless mulit-hyphanate will begin shooting Kokowääh 2, the sequel to his rom com hit this Fall for a Feb. 2013 release.  By then – with or without Warner Bros. - Schweiger plans to have begun shooting the English version of The Guardians.

Read the rest here:
Til Schweiger on The Risks And Rewards Of Making Emotional Action-Drama 'The Guardians' (Exclusive)

Two classes from SearchMarketMe's Agency Owner Training Portal are now available for auditing at no-charge. The two classes, "MGMT101: The Money U" and "MGMT102: How to be a Giant Killer" provide critical foundational instruction for new owners of the internet marketing business opportunity, relating to the proper application of the two-stage Money U business model, and identification of niches and categories with little or no competition.

Seattle, Washington (PRWEB) February 22, 2012

For the first time ever, buyers of internet marketing franchises or internet marketing business opportunities can sit-in on two premier classes from the SearchMarketMe Agency Owner Training Portal, "MGMT101 - The Money U" and "MGMT102 - How to Be a Giant Killer" as if they were already SearchMarketMe Agency Owners.

"These classes are the first two classes that all new Internet Marketing Agency Owners complete when they contract with SearchMarketMe for training and support in opening and operating their internet marketing agencies," said SearchMarketMe President and CEO, Boyd Karren. "They are critical to any new Agency Owner's understanding of how to build a successful internet marketing agency, and we want to make the information available to people sooner than later."

"MGMT101 - The Money U" illustrates the unique "Money U" business model developed by SearchMarketMe to solve the capacity issues that plague many single-operator marketing agencies.

"Most people that open some form of a marketing agency struggle to balance their time and effort between finding work and doing work. It leads to imbalance, uneven cash flow and inpredictability. The Money U business model solves this common problem. When people see and understand the Money U business model, everything else about the SearchMarketMe program snaps into clear focus."

"MGMT102 - How to Be a Giant Killer" is an interactive class that helps Agency Owners identify and establish niches and competitive categories where they will encounter little or no competition.

"So many marketing agencies target 'small and medium-sized businesses,'" said Karren. "They operate as generalists, and it's hard to make good money as a generalist. The 'Giant Killer' class shows the Agency Owners how to identify proftable niches and categories that they can own. Specialization and differentiation are absolutely the key to success as a small marketing agency."

Both classes are now available to sit-in on for free, and without obligation. Both classes are offered, live, multiple times per week. Class schedules are available at freeclass(at)searchmarketme(dot)com

ABOUT SEARCHMARKETME LLC

SearchMarketMe, LLC is a Seattle, Washington-based training and support organization that assists entrepreneurs in opening and operating independently-owned and independently-branded internet marketing agencies around the world. It developed the Money U business model for small marketing agencies and is the only scalable internet marketing business opportunity in the world. SearchMarketMe's 105 Agency Owners are located in North America, Asia and Africa. For more information about the Agency Owner program, visit SearchMarketMe's website and request the New Opportunity Overview.

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Boyd Karren
SearchMarketMe, LLC
206-445-0535
Email Information

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SearchMarketMe Continues Free "Money U" Class; Makes Second Class Available to Investigators of Internet Marketing ...

Social MarCom has launched My Social Mashup, an economical, do-it-yourself small business social marketing tool.

(PRWEB) February 21, 2012

My Social Mashup loves small business, which is why their official product launch was on Valentine’s Day 2012. This small business social marketing product was designed by a consortium of business owners, and developed as a do-it-yourself social media marketing, publishing, and website platform.

“My Social Mashup allows you to post to all of your social networks and your website in a click,” says Jason Brausewetter, Founder of Social MarCom. “For small businesses looking for social marketing that is both extremely effective and affordable, My Social Mashup provides an excellent solution.”

My Social Mashup allows small business managers to effortlessly create and maintain a visually engaging business website, as well as centralize all of the social media networks in one intuitive platform. This small business social marketing tool allows for easy text, video, image, and presentation content publishing to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, Flckr, Tumblr and a half dozen other social sites. Users will have the ability to create a custom social-ready website which can build pages displaying any topic related to their business; example pages include press/news, products and services, menu, hours of operation, a photo, video and presentation gallery. My Social Mashup also includes easy-to-set-up ‘Follow Us’ social media icons, a custom URL, hosting, and is loaded with How-to Videos.

“These days everyone has heard about the power of social media for business, however, trying to figure it out is overwhelming, and outsourcing is very expensive,” says Brausewetter. “The truth is, in order to properly represent your company; you need to create the content yourself. After all, no one knows your business and your customers better than you. Our goal is to empower our clients to quickly get up and running and generate new business from their online presence.”

My Social Mashup currently integrates with the following networks:

Social networking accounts: Facebook, Facebook Fan Pages, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare Blogs: WordPress.com, Tumblr and Blogger Media sharing: Video: YouTube, Pictures: Flickr, and Presentations: Slideshare

My Social Mashup also appreciates the agency role in social marketing. Given that, My Social Mashup offers packages for agencies to manage multiple clients through the My Social Mashup application, allowing them to offer a value-added service to their clientele.

My Social Mashup plans to continue to develop the platform, evaluating and adding new social networks, and implement additional tools for small business social marketing, which will include detailed analytics and education on how to leverage existing content.

For more information visit: http://www.mysocialmashup.com

For a video explanation of My Social Mashup, please visit: youtube.com/watch?v=bKRviIhzufk

My Social Mashup is a product of Social MarCom.

About Social MarCom

Social MarCom is a social marketing and communication company that provides social media marketing information in laymen’s terms, information to help the user build and strengthen their social brand. Social MarCom’s philosophy is, “don’t make the audience find you and dictate how they are kept in the loop, but ensure your message is finding your clients and potential clients regardless of their social media platform preference.”

Press Contact

Jason Brausewetter

Founder, Social MarCom

+1-864-9MarCom (962-7266)

Jason(at)socialmarcom(dot)com

http://www.mysocialmashup.com

# # #

Jason Brausewetter
Social MarCom
864-962-7266
Email Information

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Small Business Social Marketing Product My Social Mashup Launched by Social MarCom

Jordan Kasteler has had quite the career. He was the Senior SEO Analyst at Overstock.com, a co-founder of Search and Social, the SVP of Content Development / Managing Partner of BlueGlass Interactive, Inc. the CMO at Steelcast and is now the Online Marketing Strategist at PETA.

Jordan is extremely smart and has built a very respected reputation in our industry. He is also a very nice guy and one I have always enjoyed hanging out with. If you get the opportunity to meet him I suggest you grab the opportunity.

Jordan has recently released a book called A to Z Social Media Marketing that I have read and I think it could be extremely helpful to those trying to understand the ins and outs of social media.

I want to thank Jordan for taking the time to answer some questions about his book.

Can you tell us why you decided to write the book?

I decided to do an ebook as my thesis project for my Masters degree. I graduated with a Masters of Professional Communications and digital media was a large emphasis of that degree so it fit in pretty well. From there, I took the appropriate steps to create an ebook that would be available on iTunes, Amazon, etc. I didn’t want to stop there so I printed my book as well.

Who would benefit from reading your book?

This book is for people looking to dive into social media marketing and learn it from all angles. However, it is also for the well-versed social media marketer that wants to explore other facets of social media they might not know about like content marketing with social media.

Can you give us a breakdown of topics?

While most books focus on Facebook and Twitter (sometimes YouTube), this book teaches leveraging all facets of social media and all social media channels involved. This book largely explores concepts of content marketing and leveraging social media to promote that content. Learn how to create and distribute infographics, articles, videos, quizzes, widgets, etc and the proper social sites they should be distributed.

While this book features sites like Digg, Delicious, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more, it’s important to note that it teaches promotion o social media holistically and not a channel-by-channel basis. Use everything together to create a strategy over just tactics.

Can you tell us your favorite websites or resources for staying up to date on Social Media? Mashable.com – I go here about 3 times a day and read it religiously. I find myself only cherry picking a few pieces to read, often I’m let down as the content isn’t as exciting as the title made it out to be, but it’s a good place to keep up with news and find new resources. Daily SearchCap – A daily link aggregation list by SearchEngineLand.com. Marketing Day – Another daily link aggregation list by marketingLand.com. Search Engine Journal – of course 🙂 What are “3 musts” those new to social media must know/do? Learn tactics and ways to implement ALL facets of social media into your marketing strategies. Keep your finger on the pulse by reading blog posts daily. Build your social presence. How’s anyone going to take you seriously if you don’t own your own profiles, have them fleshed out and active, etc? Do you feel anyone can be good at social media?

Anyone can be good at anything if they put in the time and effort. Marketing and communication skills are important to being good at leveraging social media effectively. Most importantly, the thirst for knowledge and hunger to learn is important to staying up to speed and rising above.

What techniques & strategies do you think people need to stay on top of in 2012?

To stay one top you need to constantly be thinking outside the box and being unique. Doing stuff others have done before can only get you so far. In social, people really pay attention to new and unique ways of doing things.

Note that just because a new site comes out doesn’t mean you should add it into your marketing mix no matter how much hype it’s getting. Social networks come and go pretty easily these days.

Personal Questions Mac or PC? – PC! I gave the Mac thing a try for a couple years but have found myself coming back to the PC. Tweetdeck or Hootsuite? – I don’t personally monitor my feeds daily as it’s a distraction. I just check Twitter once or twice a day and use “Twitter Notifier” for Chrome to alert me of new @replies and DMs. iPhone or Droid? – iPhone but I see myself migrating to Android at some point. I’m quite disappointed at the slow speed of iPhone iOS upgrades each generation. Android seems to be moving much quicker. Favorite drink/beer? – Beer is my favorite drink 🙂 I’m a fan of any Hef Star Wars or Star Trek? -Neither! I’m not a sci-fi fan in the least, sorry 🙁

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An Interview with Jordan Kasteler About His New Social Media Marketing Book