Eye of the #tigerblood

Former Oracle editor, USF graduate and USF News and USF Health videographer Amy Mariani was one of 82,148 people who applied to become the intern of former “Two and a Half Men” sitcom star and media sensation Charlie Sheen.

Now, Mariani has entered the third round, and she tells The Oracle in her own words how she reached her current standing.

In the past month, I’ve been asked this question countless times: “Why in the world would you want to work for Charlie Sheen?”

The self-proclaimed Warlock with “tiger blood running through his veins” has created a media circus around him in recent weeks. An off-the-wall interview with ABC News’ Andrea Canning sparked the fire that grew into a national tour, and he set a Guinness World record for the person to fastest reach 1 million followers on Twitter.

Now, Sheen has embarked on his My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not an Option tour – with an April 22 stop at the St. Pete Times Forum – and launched a summer internship contest.

That’s where I come in.

At first, it was a joke. I was perusing Sheen’s Twitter when I noticed his call for interns.

“I’m looking to hire a #winning INTERN with #TigerBlood. Apply here – http://bit.ly/hykQQF #TigerBloodIntern #internship #ad,” he tweeted.

According to the application website, internships.com, the paid, eight-week summer position involves overseeing the social media networks of “Hollywood’s most trending celebrity.”

I applied after some convincing from my roomate. My 140-character-or-less application read: “I applied http://bit.ly/dJsTRF 2 be the #TigerBloodIntern bcuz I grew up with REAL TIGERS #tigerblood #winning.”

My real tigers line is no joke. I spent six years of my life in the circus, touring the U.S. and Canada with my clown parents. You don’t hear that every day.

The initial internship competition received more than 82,000 applications from 180 countries, and I made it into the second round.

The second round didn’t require much more work – just a little information about myself, my social networking handles and why I’d make the best social media intern for the Sheen machine.

I filled out the form, but still didn’t take the competition that seriously.

Then, at about 7 p.m. March 21, I got sent this email from internships.com: “Congratulations! You have been selected to move on to Round 3!” Now things started to get serious for me.

I became one of 250 third-round finalists out of more than 82,000 original applicants. The next step was a video application.

Now it was time to pull out the big guns. I wrote a script, drew up some storyboards, grabbed my two buddies – Bryan Friesen and Samantha Intihar – seniors majoring in mass communications, and got to work on a video outlining my social media plans.

So back to the original question: Why in the world would I want to work for Charlie Sheen?

Well, why not? His social media presence is helping shape how these types of websites are used to disseminate information and promote people. He may have this crazy personality for the cameras, but the man isn’t an idiot. I want to be a part of this change; I want to be a part of this influence. For me, it would be a huge benefit. I would gain opportunities and experience I don’t think I could get anywhere else.

Yet, it’s really about why Charlie Sheen should want me to work for him. I’ve interned and worked for news organizations throughout Central Florida, including The Oracle. I know social media like the back of my hand – I maintain two blogs, my Twitter, my Facebook and my own website.

I can write, make videos and shoot photos. I would love to work for Charlie Sheen, but Charlie Sheen would benefit if I worked for him.

Now, I wait.

Internships.com tweeted Friday that today is the day we’ll find out which applicants made it to the last, and final, #TigerBloodIntern round.

Yes, Charlie, I’ve got tiger blood. If you don’t make me your intern, I’m sure I can put that tiger blood to use elsewhere. Do you want to lose that opportunity?