I heard the news today, oh boy...

'Nuff Said...

So yesterday’s post was kicked off with an allusion to the old Chinese proverb ‘May you live in interesting times’. More of an actual curse than a blessing, it’s essentially ancient wisdom’s equivalent to the more contemporary ‘Go to hell!’, with the clear implication being that ‘uninteresting times’ are bound to be far more peaceful and life-enriching.

Continuing in that vein, it’s certainly an interesting time to be an Alizée fan…and probably even more interesting to be Alizée, herself. I haven’t been around very long, myself, but from what I’ve seen of the dizzying highs and disparaging lows of the last year, it must make the four years of near-total radio silence that preceded it seem positively tranquil by comparison.

Hell, just the last month alone has been an emotional roller coaster, as we:

• lurched from rumors of Alizée switching labels and being assigned new management by Sony BMG
  

• launched ourselves into a dizzying spin of voting and promotion for her nomination at Los Premios MTV 2008
  

• threw our arms in the air with abandon (and a little trepidation) as information began to surface about Alizée’s work on her forthcoming jazz album…wait, jazz album?
  

• were plummeted back to earth as the story about the jazz album proved to be false, or at least incorrect, inasmuch as it referred to an altogether different—and quite male, thank you—Alizé, entirely
  

• began to pick up steam again as more award nominations were announced, and the date for her highly-anticipated concert at Le Grand Rex on October 23rd—Alizée’s first concert in France in almost five years—grew ever closer
  

• trembled a little as apparent glitches on Le Grand Rex's website gave way to rumors that the aforementioned concert was actually in danger of being canceled or postponed until the spring due to low ticket sales
  

• soldiered on in the face of uncertainty, operating on the assumption that no official word on the subject could only be good news, and busied ourselves making plans, whether we were going or not

• were dropped into free-fall as word began to trickle out little by little that tickets were no longer up for sale, and that the concert was actually being postponed due to a scheduling conflict with an appearance with an upcoming awards show in Mexico
  

• left our stomachs behind as the news was confirmed, with retailers offering ticket refunds to those who wouldn’t be able to attend the rescheduled date of March 28…a mere three weeks before the initial scheduled date of October 23rd; and
  

• finally hit the ground with a resounding thud, as the date for the upcoming show was changed—quietly, and without fanfare or explanation—on Alizée’s official MySpace page.

In short, Space Mountain ain’t got nothin’ on being an Alizée fan right now.

I’m not one of those directly affected by the decision to postpone—though I might have been, if a lengthy and unexpected bout of unemployment in July and August hadn’t precluded it, and might still be if the stars align for me between now and the end of March—so I don’t really feel like I have the right to sit in judgement of it, or the logic behind it, either way. Instead, I’ve watched quietly from the sidelines as word got around, and other fans began to react.

Some have reacted with disgust, anger and bitter disappointment, claiming that Lili and her minders have gone too far this time in their disregard for her fans—particularly those still on the hook for international flights and expensive accommodation arrangements—with a few going so far as claiming to have washed their hands of her for good. Others, though equally disappointed, have responded mainly with worry and concern, both for the well being of Alizée herself and that of her career, and are vowing to hang tough with her and remain true fans through the hard times. And at least one fan, whose opinion I’ve come to respect, has effectively shrugged and written the whole thing off as ‘Alizée being Alizée’…

Two points everyone seems to agree on, though: first, that an awards ceremony seems like a pretty flimsy excuse to hang the postponement on, leading to speculation of another, possibly more sinister reason behind it; and second, that they’d really, really like to hear something by way of an explanation from Lili herself.

Perfectly valid and understandable reactions, all. Can’t come down against any of them, really, especially when I kind of tend to agree with all of them at the same time…but then, I said I wasn’t going to pass judgement.

Two things about today really did bum me out, though, more than anything else...

The first was reading a heartfelt post from Jenny (aka HR087) on Alizée’s MySpace expressing her heartbreak and confusion over the decision, yet reaffirming her undying support for Lili no matter what…and then coming back a few hours later for an update, and seeing that poor Jenny’s post had been deleted, along with several similar posts from other fans expressing their frustration. Now, I don’t know Jenny personally, but from the posts she’s made on MySpace and Alizée-Forum, it’s clear to me that she’s a) the sweetest, most enthusiastic Alizée fan that German engineering has to offer, and b) has been eagerly anticipating the concert for the past several months. (Her MySpace avatar is a picture of her gleefully displaying her tickets, for crimminy’s sake!) Seeing her post deleted like it never happened, in what I can only assume was an attempt at damage control…ugh. Just ugh. So very disdainful of her feelings—and the feelings of the other fans whose posts were expunged, of course, but hers in particular—that it breaks the heart.

And then there was this post on the Alizée America forums from Snatcher42, he of Operation: LTNY whom first inspired me to begin this mad crusade of mine, in emulation and support of his own:

Regardless it's a terrible excuse, none are right on the 23rd. I'm sure low ticket sales are the real reason. Can't say how sick it makes me feel. I'm speechless, and really don't feel like spending more energy on her. I'll always be around, but with news like this...

It's just not worth going out of one's way to promote or do Alizée things anymore when we get so little in return. I won't point fingers, it doesn't matter who's at fault, that's just how it is. I'm out $1500 on this trip, but worse still is the wasted time and effort.

Man…when words like this come from the keyboard of a fan as dedicated as Snatcher, it heralds interesting times, indeed. Let's hope that Alizée proves to be up to weathering them.

(OK, that went on a lot longer than I intended…but I guess I had a lot more to say on the subject than I thought. If you feel similarly moved to say a little bit yourself—especially if you’re one of those who’s been shut out from expressing yourself via Alizée’s MySpace—please feel free to comment below. All viewpoints are welcome here—angry, supportive, neutral, whatever—so please don’t hold back. Just try not to belittle somebody else’s, alright? Let's keep it friendly.)

Reminder: Alizée America MTVLA Vote-athon - Sunday Sept. 28 @ 10 AM EST!

This is just a reminder to all and sundry that Ruroshen from the Alizée America forums is hosting an all-day MTVLA voting marathon community chat this Sunday, September 28, starting at 10 AM eastern time, and going as late as people are interested.

From Ruro's post over at AAm:

OK folks, the Alizée America MTVLA Vote-athon has officially been scheduled to begin at 10 AM EST on Sunday, September 28, 2008. Please join us as we support, amuse, entertain, console and generally try to keep each other sane throughout a day-long marathon of Lili-voting madness. Chat and interact with fellow Alizée fans from across America and (hopefully) around the world as we spend the day voting en masse to push Alizée to victory.

You can find the Vote-athon’s page on TalkShoe here:

http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/tscmd/tc/27639

—from here you’ll be able to join the community call once it goes live on Sunday morning. Before you can join, you’ll first need to sign up on TalkShoe, and download the TalkShoe Live client. Registering is free, downloading the software is free, and joining the call is free as long as use the ShoePhone VOIP that’s built into TalkShoe Live. (You can also call in via phone or Skype, but this will cost you money, so try not to do that.)

Click here to watch a few short videos explaining how TalkShoe works:

http://www.talkshoe.com/se/help/videoDemos.html

I recommend that you have a headset and mic handy if you’re planning to join in on the voice call…but even if you don’t (or if you’re just shy), you can still participate via text chat, or just lurk and listen in as you vote right along with us.
(The more people who participate in the voice call, though, the more fun this will be!)

I’ve deliberately set the call to “public” so that anybody can join, so please don’t hesitate to invite others to join us. Alizée fans old and new from any site, forum, nation and walk of life are welcome and encouraged to join in the madness. Please just be aware that the primary language of the call will naturally be English, and that we’re going to try to keep the profanity down to a PG level. (I really don’t need any emails for angry mothers in Guatemala, thank you.) Don’t let that scare you off, though—we’re a friendly bunch, and I guarantee that you speak English far better than most of us speak your language.

Also, please note that although the default length of the call is 120 mins, we’re actually able to go as long as we want. Everyone but me will be able to drop-in and drop-out at will—I’m the host, so I have to stick around for the duration—which means you can come and go whenever you please. Come and hang out as often as you like, for as long or as little as you can.
So please drop in even if you can only stay for a few minutes—every vote for Lili counts, and those of us running the marathon will appreciate the infusion of fresh blood!

And I think that’s everything…! Please let me know if you guys have any questions or concerns, and I’ll do my best to address them as quickly as possible! Thanks, and hope to see you on Sunday!

I'm sadly not able to be there--my cousin clearly has his priorities messed up and has elected to get married that day, instead--but it sounds like a good time for a good cause. Even if you can only swing by for a little while, I'd recommend you check it out! How often do you get to geek out about Alizée with real, live people and help her out at the same time?

Man, I wish I could be there. Stupid cousin...

Meet the Candidates, Part II

There's just five days left to vote for Alizée at Los Premios MTV 2008 (the Latin American MTV awards) , and ensure she takes home the trophy for 'Mejor Artista Nuevo Internacional' (Best New International Artist). Remember, you have to vote in all the categories (not just Alizée's) in order for your vote to count.

Not sure who else to vote for? Op Drop can help. Check out this second post in a series which shares a little of my own voting strategy (such as it is), with more outtakes from my promotional YouTube video.

Op Drop recommends...



Although she's competing against Alizée in 'Mejor Artista Nuevo Internacional' (boo!), the gorgeous Miss Perry is also nominated in the category of 'Cancion Del Ano' (Song of the Year), which I frankly think she deserves. Perry's unbelievably catchy and controversial song I Kissed A Girl took the world by storm this summer, to the point where you couldn't get away from it if you tried.

And then there's the small matter of the video, which is quite frankly--and you'll forgive the blogger a moment of maleness here--undeniably hawt. (The fact that it kinda sorta plays like a more risqué version of the Mademoiselle Juliette video to me only accentuates its hawtness.)

Ahem...uh, moving on...



Yes, because it's MTV, they actually have a category for 'Mejor Musica de un Videojuego' (Best Music of a Video Game). I haven't played the majority of the games in this category, including Rock Band--I know, I know, blasphemy--but I was pretty obsessed with Guitar Hero III for several months back at the beginning of the year. Though I'm not sure which one Alizée would prefer to play, I do know which one I'd prefer to see her play:


You just know she's gonna six-star Through The Fire and the Flames, here...assuming the guitar doesn't melt first. Yum.

Er, let's continue, shall we?


Seriously. How do you not vote for someone who has the audacity to go through life with Doctor Krapula as their stage name? He's nominated in the category 'Mejor Artista Central' (Best Artist Central). Fortunately, his music is not only much better than his name would have you believe, it actually kinda rocks. Check out his videos for BAM and El Pibe de mi Barrio to see for yourself.

More recommendations to come tomorrow. For now, I have a strange compulsion to dust off Guitar Hero III...and maybe watch En Concert again...

I can't imagine why.

Meet the Candidates, Part I

Only six days remain before the voting closes for Los Premios MTV 2008, the Latin American version of the MTV awards...less than a week in which to help Alizée triumph over the likes of Katy Perry and the eeeeeevil Jonas Brothers, and be crowned as 'Mejor Artista Nuevo Internacional' (Best New International Artist).

Regular readers may recall--because I've only mentioned in every single post since--that I created the above YouTube video to promote Alizée at the MTVLA awards, and to explain in plain English exactly how one could go about voting for her. The key is not to just vote for Alizée, but to vote in all the categories in order for your vote to count. The problem is, not only is this kind of a pain in the butt, but most of the other categories are filled with artists who are unknown to North Americans like myself.

Who to vote for, then? Once again, folks, Operation: Disque Drop is here for you. Allow me to drop some science on you, and share a little of my own voting strategy with the following outtakes from the aforementioned YouTube video.

Op Drop Recommends...


OK, not so obscure and kind of a gimmie, but I thought we'd warm up with a really easy one first, and work our way down to the really hard ones. Nominated in the categories 'Mejor Artista Pop Internacional' (Best International Pop Artist) and 'Mejor Ringtone Musical' (Best Musical Ringtone...seriously, there's an award for this?), Madonna is arguably the most recognizable nominee to most North American voters. (Unless, of course, you're a twelve year-old girl with a crush on Joe Jonas.)

Though personally I'm not a big fan of her later stuff, Madonna has served as a major influence on Alizée and her music since the age of five. Lili has done covers of both La Isla Bonita and Hung Up (both of which appear on the Op Drop disque), and samples Music in the 'new' version of Moi...Lolita that she performs on the Psychédélices tour. And as aw has speculated on his blog, she may even have drawn inspiration from Madonna's video for Deeper and Deeper in creating the song Fifty Sixy. There's no questioning the fact that Alizée would vote for Madonna herself...so, since Alizée is kind of the point of all this, we vote for Madonna.

I mean, screw Tokio Hotel anyway, right?

Next up...


A little more obscure, at least to North Americans, but also a nominee with an Alizée connection...for me, anyway. See, I stumbled across the video for Belanova's single 1, 2, 3, Go! in a post they'd made on Alizée's offical MySpace page a couple of months ago (back when embedding videos on her page was still allowed), and absolutely fell in love with it. Bouncy and fun, with an awesome bassline, it's one of the few non-Alizée tracks to see heavy rotation on my iPod in recent months. And the video is cute.

Nominated in the categories 'Artista Del Ano' (Artist of the Year), 'Group O Duo' (Group or Duo), 'Mejor Artista Pop' (Best Pop Artist), 'Video Del Ano' (Video of the Year), and kinda/sorta in 'Mejor Fan Club' (Best Fan Club), Belanova is one of the few nominees I can genuinely say I'm voting for on merit...as you'll see when we get further down the list, here.

For example...


Seriously. That's a pretty kick-ass hat, man.

Actually, since I began voting in this thing, I have bothered to do a little research into the artists I've been voting for (often with the flimsiest of excuses), and I've discovered that Café Tacvba is one I can genuinely get behind...if only because their video for Eres perfectly captures what it was like to be me at twelve years old. I guess some experiences are universal. Café Tacvba is nominated in a bunch of the same categories as Belanova, but is my choice for 'Mejor Artista Alternativo' (Best Alternative Artist).

More recommendations tomorrow. Until then, get out there and rock the vote for Alizée!

Dateline: Lilly Town

Just a quick update on a few things as I run out the door to work. A little dry, perhaps, but I find if you read it in the style of one of those old-timey black & white newsreels they used to show before movies back in the day, it's infinitely more entertaining. Enjoy!

• Snatcher42 (aka Ben from Operation LTNY) graciously shows Op Drop a little love in his super-sized Lili News segment on the tenth episode of the Alizée America Podcast, which dropped on Monday. Ciara and Ben's show is always a fun and informative listen for Alizée fans, and I'd heartily recommend it even if it wasn't out there pimpin' for me. They're up to double digits now, people! Ow!

• Meanwhile Op Drop’s YouTube promotional video, ‘Vote for Alizée in Los Premios MTV 2008’, is racking up a decent number of views—the version on my account has reached 611, while the mirror that Ruroshen graciously posted has netted 459. That’s 1070 views in total in less than a week, which hopefully translates into a decent number of votes for Alizée...and with less than a week to go before the polls close, every vote counts! Big thanks to Alizée fan HRO87, who embedded it in a post in the English section of the multi-lingual Alizée Forum, where it's been racking up a fair number of views. Thanks for helping to spread the word, HR087. Hopefully it gets folks over there pumped up to vote.

• And speaking of Ruroshen and the MTVLA awards, he’s going to be hosting a day-long Alizée Vote-athon voice chat over at TalkShoe this Sunday, September 28, starting at 10 am Eastern Time, and going as late as people are interested. Essentially, it’ll be place for fans to drop in and hang out with each other as they spend the day voting Lili up at Los Premios MTV 2008. It sounds like fun, and I’d totally be there myself if it wasn’t for a) my oppressive fear of awkward social situations, and b) the fact that I have to attend my cousin’s wedding on Sunday (which is not going to be good time—see a). You can learn more about it in Ruro’s post about the event at the Alizée America forums.

• Finally, just a quick reminder that MySpace singing sensation Yelle’s American tour, ‘C’est Amerique!’, starts in just a few days, with the first American date being October 7 in Dallas, Texas. These shows provide a great opportunity to promote Alizée in the United States…and if you’re interested, Op Drop is willing to supply the disques you need to do it! We already have one remote operative scheduled to make a drop at an upcoming show, but the more we have, the better! Check out Yelle’s MySpace for the show nearest you, then drop me a line if you’d like to get in on the action!

NoobTube

So the promotional video I posted on YouTube to encourage fans and casual viewers alike to vote for Alizée in Los Premios MTV 2008 (and explain in plain English how they might go about doing it) has surpassed 500 views so far, while the mirror that Ruroshen hosted for me on his account has garnered a little over 200. While that’s not bad considering how little exposure it’s had, I’ve decided against producing alternate versions for La Isla Bonita and other Alizée videos as I’d originally planned. Given that it took me the better part of three days to cut the first one together, and there’s apparently only a little more than a week left to vote, the return on investment just isn’t high enough.

The whole point of the exercise, you see, was to post them as Video Responses to the most highly-trafficked Alizée clips on YouTube—not a bad strategy, given the incredible number views some of those videos rack up in a single day. Unfortunately, what I didn’t realize is that a) the newness of my account, which I created just under a week ago specifically to do this, would apparently prevent me from posting video responses, and b) that the owner of the video you’re responding to has to approve it before it’ll even show up as a response on their page.

Ruroshen was kind enough to solve the first problem for me by offering to mirror the video on his account, which he’s had for awhile…but unfortunately we’ve both been stymied by the fact that the dude who posted the video we’re trying to respond to hasn’t logged on in about a week. By the time he does log on, the window for voting could very likely have already closed…if he even chooses to approve the response in the first place.

Argh. While I get the rationale behind it—clearly everyone should have the right to veto the type of content that appears on their page in relation to their own work—it’s frustrating, nonetheless.

Oh well, so much for viral marketing. At least it’s been well-received by the few who have seen it. Big thanks to Ruroshen for hosting the mirror and posting it over at Alizée America, and to AC Mix for doing the same over at Lilly Town USA (and saying some very kind words about it, besides). You’re both gentlemen and scholars, good sirs. It’s greatly appreciated.

Back to Basiques

Why's it called 'Operation: Disque Drop' again...?

Given how little I’ve written about it in the past few weeks, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Operation: Disque Drop had maybe lost sight of its core purpose, in that there’s apparently been precious little disque-droppage going on. Heck, the last time I even mentioned undertaking an Op Drop was back on August 28, when I summed up the last of my efforts at Fan Expo, almost three weeks ago.

Since then, it seems like I’ve written about practically everything but! I’ve been distracted, after all, by the rumors of Alizée changing record labels within Sony BMG (and hopefully getting a better promotional team behind her in the process). And then there was the hoopla surrounding Alizée’s nomination for an award at Los Premios MTV 2008 (and my ongoing efforts on YouTube to encourage fans and casual viewers alike to vote for her), which consumed me for the better part of this week.

So when is Op Drop going to get back to the business of actually dropping disques, you ask? Well, I’m happy to announce that, after two weeks spent upgrading, refining and stockpiling the reserves, the first of the Mark IV DVDs have made their way out the door, and hopefully into the hands of several enthusiastic Lili-converts. A grand total of thirty disques were unleashed Friday afternoon upon an unsuspecting public in and around the Toronto Eaton Center, downtown T-dot’s most highly-trafficked shopping center, and a popular destination for locals and tourists alike.

Though not as major an undertaking as the three-day assault on Fan Expo, in its own way, the concentrated burst appeared to be even more successful—I managed to unload all thirty disques in about half the time it took me to drop the same amount at the convention, with some disques being picked up mere seconds after I’d dropped them. I felt a little bit more exposed—in a mall that crowded, it’s nigh-impossible to pull off a discreet drop completely unnoticed—but while I raised a few eyebrows, nobody actually stopped me this time to try and return a disque. In fact, the curiousity translated into at least a few immediate pickups.

Also—bonus!—in the course of the afternoon, I discovered that the major chain music store across the street not only has a robust international music section on their third floor, but that they actually carry Alizée’s albums! Not Psychédélices, sadly, but they did have both Gourmandises and Mes Courants Electriques in stock. (Granted, it was only one copy of each, but that’s still two more Alizée albums than I’ve seen anywhere else!) I happily snapped up Gourmandises, at a relatively reasonable price, finally filling the only gap in my collection (if you don’t count Tout Alizée, which I don’t, but that’s a subject for another post). Bonus objective, achieved!

All-told, a very good day. I will definitely be making TEC a regular stop on the Op Drop tour, especially as the Christmas shopping season approaches.

Meanwhile, another payload of Mark IV disques is currently winging their way to an undisclosed location via international airmail, en route to Op Drop’s very first remote operative, for use in their mission to infiltrate one of Yelle’s upcoming North American tour appearances. More on this to come as the date of the operation approaches…

Want to get in on the action? You, too, can become a remote operative for Op Drop in your city and get in on the ground floor of Alizée’s North American revolution. Whether you’d like to infiltrate one of Yelle’s concerts (or that of another artist whose fans you think would be receptive), or you’d just like a hand getting set up to do smaller promotional things in your home town, Op Drop is here for you! Drop me a line either here in the comments or via email, and we’ll see what we can do about getting you started in promoting Alizée where you live!

Rocking the Vote for Alizée, YouTube-style!

My name is Disque, and I approve this message

If you'd told me a year ago that I'd spend every spare moment of three days working on a guerilla marketing video for a French recording artist nominated for an MTV Latin America video award, I would have looked at you like you had lobsters crawling out of your ears.

And yet, here we are. It's funny how life works, huh?

I literally just uploaded it to YouTube, so I don't think it's propagated through to the 'Most Recent Videos' listing, or shown up yet as a video response to that tactical nuke video I keep linking...so please consider this a sneak preview of the promotional video I made for Alizée with my own widdle hands:



A couple notes on the making-of...the director's commentary, if you will:

• This is my first ever YouTube video, and only the third I've edited with Windows Movie Maker. It turned out alright, all things considered. It's not perfect, and it took me about three times longer than it should have, but I learned a lot while putting it together. The next one will be better.

• Though it's a far cry better than the dual VCRs and jog-shuttle editing board I used in AV Club back in high school, Windows Movie Maker is a little skimpy on options, and is a bit of a bitch to work with besides. If anyone knows of a cheap-as-free alternative that's more robust, or at least a little more user-friendly (i.e. less prone to crashing repeatedly), I'd appreciate it if you dropped me a line.

• My original plan was to use J'en Ai Marre! as the backing music, but lip-syncing it with the clips plucked randomly from throughout the original video proved to be too cumbersome, and not lip-syncing it just looked weird.

• Plan B for the music was to use David Bowie's Heroes, a song I've always loved which I thought was oddly appropriate, especially given the ongoing superhero metaphor running through Op Drop. Unfortunately, there's about thirty gazillion versions of it out there, all of them different, and most of them over six minutes in length. I tried a few, but they also proved to be difficult to work with as far as syncing things up went. I finally just gave in and went with the Wallflowers' cover from the Godzilla soundtrack, instead. It's an inferior version, I know, but at least it's studio-quality and easy to sync to.
  

• I have plans to do a version of this for La Isla Bonita too (the next most-watched Alizée video on YouTube), and possibly versions for Ella, Elle L'a, Mademoiselle Juliette and Fifty Sixty as well. We'll see--there's not a whole lot of time left before the voting ends. If anyone has suggestions on how I could improve upon this first effort, I'd be more than happy to entertain them.
  

Anyway, if you're reading this, if you could please take a moment to visit the video's page on YouTube to comment on it and vote it up, I'd really appreciate it. And if you'd like to spread it far and wide on any fan sites, Facebook pages, MySpace profiles or blogs you happen to frequent and/or operate...well, that would be totally cool, too.

And, of course, don't forget to vote!

Rocking the vote for Alizée, Latino-style

Lilly Town catches election fever! (Well, sorta...)

While it’s unlikely that anybody who actually visits Op Drop on a semi-regular basis isn’t already aware of this—it’s been posted on her official MySpace, and all the fansites I lurk on are all a-tizzy about it—it still bears mentioning: our girl Alizée has been nominated for an MTVLA award, and she needs our help to win it!

While it may seem odd for someone with eight years and five million albums sold under her belt to be nominated as a ‘new’ artist, that’s nevertheless the category Alizée has been nominated in—‘Mejor Artista Nuevo Internacional’—alongside the Jonas Brothers (ugh!), Katy Perry (yum!), Paramore and Tokio Hotel. That’s some pretty stiff competition right there, so Lili needs all the help she can get!

On the bright side, there appears to be no limit to the number of times you can vote…but on the down side, in order for your vote to count, you need to vote in every single MTVLA category, not just the one in which Alizée’s been nominated. Not only is this a major pain in the tuchas, but it appears to be a point that many of Alizée’s supporters who followed the link from her MySpace (myself included) have initially overlooked, resulting in a whole whack of votes not being counted in the first few days of the contest.

Just so you’re clear on how it works, then, here’s an excerpt of a post from AC Mix at Lilly Town USA, which gives the 411 on exactly how to rock the vote:

so here is what we need to do.................

1- the link: http://www.mtvla.com/premios/ click on where it says Mexico or any other place... its just to know where the votes are coming from... but there is no USA.. so i guess mexico is best that will take you directly to the MTVLA awards home page...

2- click on where it says "Nominados" http://www.mtvla.com/premios/nominad...questid=390870 that will take you straight to all the categories...

3- in the list on the left. click on where it says "Mejor Artista Nuevo Internacional"... http://www.mtvla.com/premios/nominad..._Internacional it will take you to Alizée's category and she will be on on top left.

4- click on "Votar" http://www.mtvla.com/premios/votacio..._Internacional you should first see a cone like shape in the middle of all the categories. then automatically, it should take you to her category... alizee again top left hand corner...

5- click on "Votar" again... and it will take you out to another category so you can continue your voting.....

This step is extremely crucial, you MUST CONTINUE YOUR VOTING SO YOUR VOTE COUNTS... IF YOU DONT VOTE IN ALL THE CATEGORIES YOU VOTE WILL NOT COUNT..

i know its a pain in the but to vote for people you dont know and categories you dont care for... but it is a requirement... ill repeat!!!

IN ORDER FOR YOUR VOTE TO BE COUNTED, YOU NEED TO VOTE IN ALL THE CATEGORIES FIRST.

Lets all do it for Alizée so we can see her happy so then.. we can vote as many times as we want... as long as we go trough all the categories..

so then 6- click again on "Nominados" http://www.mtvla.com/premios/nominad...questid=398484 and it will take you back to the list of actegories and repeat steps 3-5 as many times possible please...

Meanwhile, over at Alizée America, friend of Op Drop NarutoSoul drops a little more science and lends some inspiration:

I did the math, and if you devote all of your attention to the voting, you should be able to get 20 votes for every hour spent voting. If that sounds crazy and difficult, try this: Listen to a Lili CD. As long as that CD is playing, spend the time voting. ONLY vote, do nothing else. Promote Lili while you listen, and help repay her for some of the joy she's brought into all of our lives!

While I hardly needed an excuse to kick back and while away a couple hours this weekend listening to Psychédélices and En Concert again (my personal two favorites of Alizée’s albums), this sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me.

Vote early and vote often, kids. Let’s help Alizée take this one by a landslide.

"Hey, you! Yeah you, with the mouse! Why haven't you voted yet?!"