I have recently been hearing about this new social site called “Chatroulette“. Immediately my reaction was “Ugh, another one?!”. But I have to admit, this one puts a different spin on the whole concept of social networking. Basically, this site – created by a 17-year old Russian programmer – connects users from all over the world via webcam. Visiting the site itself is very straightforward. You just click PLAY to start. Suddenly you are arbitrarily connected to someone else who is also “playing”. If this person interests you, you can choose to interact with them via text or voice…if not, then you can click ‘next’ and be connected to the next person at random. According to an article in NY Mag titled “The Human Shuffle”, people use this method for any number of different reasons:
“Early ChatRoulette users traded anecdotes on comment boards with the eerie intensity of shipwreck survivors, both excited and freaked out by what they’d seen. There was a man who wore a deer head and opened every conversation with “What up DOE!?” A guy from Sweden was reportedly speed-drawing strangers’ portraits. Someone with a guitar was improvising songs for anyone who’d give him a topic. One man popped up on people’s screens in the act of fornicating with a head of lettuce. Others dressed like ninjas, tried to persuade women to expose themselves, and played spontaneous transcontinental games of Connect Four. Occasionally, people even made nonvirtual connections: One punk-music blogger met a group of people from Michigan who ended up driving eleven hours to crash at his house for a concert in New York.”
The video below may be able to help better explain this growing phenomenom:
As you probably have guessed from this post, this one and this one…I am SUPER excited about Tim Burton’s upcoming release of Alice in Wonderland. Yesterday I saw the best trailer I have seen thus far, and I just had to share. So souped!!
My extremely funny (and often times inappropriate) friend Payman recently directed this Avatar spoof, aptly titled “Bavatar”. If you like babies (or hate them) this one is a must-see! If you dig this, be sure to check out more from Payman and his team “The Midnight Show” right….HERE!
*Please note that no real babies were harmed during this production.
Mayer Hawthorne, according to Wikipedia, is “singer, producer, songwriter, arranger, audio engineer, DJ, rapper, and multi-instrumentalist.” Basically stating that this man does it all. Originally hailing from Ann Arbor, MI, Hawthorne’s sound is so soulful that it’s hard to imagine this voice belongs to a 29 year-old white boy from the Mid-West. While “Maybe So, Maybe No” is a more youthful turn for Mayer, “When I said Goodbye” is a track that could have easily been recorded back in the 50’s. Consequently, he states his influences as Curtis Mayfield, Barry White, Isaac Hayes and Smokey Robinson just to name a few.
I am really digging this guy’s vibe. Take a listen for yourselves:
[For my Cali heads, the video below is an homage of sorts to Venice Beach. If you frequent it like I do, you will notice some familiar faces that are staples there.]
I’m a big fan of these two as a musical team. “Cry Me a River”, “Sexyback” and now here is the video for their latest venture together “Carry Out”. I love Timbo’s beats and his flavor but honestly, there is one thing missing from this track…Nelly Furtado. Female vocals would have given this that extra boost that I think it’s missing. Still catchy though, check it:
For those of you who are not up on Theophilus London (real name), he is a Brooklynite that has managed to fuse hip-hop, electronica and indie-pop sounds into one successful mash-up. His newest mixtape “This Charming Mixtape” (proceeded by 2008’s JAM!) blends futuristic spaced out sounds with a minimalistic approach. Many critics are comparing him to Kid Cudi, but honestly, I think Theophilus’ style is way more original and harder to categorize.
I saw this on my friend Payman’s Facebook wall and just had to post it to my blog. This Oscar-nominated animation has an amazing concept that “re-imagines Los Angeles as a city made up of nothing but corporate branding” and brilliantly features over “2,500 logos, includes car chases, an intense hostage crisis, wild animals rampaging through the city and a voice cast that includes David Fincher and Andrew Kevin Walker”. This one is a must see:
Look, I’m all about sending aid and raising awareness for the destruction in Haiti (I have donated myself) but this new version of “We Are the World” is just too much. I grew up on the original version, like I’m sure most of you have and I’ve got a special place in my heart for this song. I think that is why I really am appalled by the new version. Its starts off with a kid named Justin Bieber (??? – thank god for google) and it seems okay until…wait….Auto-tune?! Really?!! WTF? I know they are trying to update a classic, but I’m pretty sure they just ruined it instead. Listen for yourselves:
As far as I’m concerned, HBO can do no wrong. Between old school favorites The Sopranos and Sex in the City, mixed with newer hits Entourage and True Blood…there really is no other channel that does it quite like HBO. New comedy series “How to Make it in America” starring Bryan Greenberg, Victor Rasuk and Shannyn Sossamon is set to premiere this Sunday at 10pm. The show follows a group of young twenty-somethings navigating the streets of NYC. The fact that it takes place in NY makes it an automatic win in my book. Below check out the full premiere episode as well as a link to the Mixtape for the show made by DJ Green Lantern, Broke Mogul and Kid Cudi (who makes his theatrical debut on the show).
