Listening Room Wants Us to Keep Jamming with Friends Alive
Few things top a good listening party. Now that I’m out of school and working full-time, I have less and less time to simply chill out with friends. Some of my favorite memories pre-adulthood feature vegging and enjoying a record with people, singing along, cracking jokes, and improvising stellar (translation: awful) interpretative dance moves at 2AM. That’s all harder to do when I spend most of my time working and so many of my friends don’t even live near me now. Thankfully, Listening Room wants to at least help folks re-imagine classic listening party relaxtion online.
Here’s the way it works, according to its creator, Abe Fettig:
It’s a web app for listening to music with your friends. You get a few people in the same virtual room, and then you listen to music together. The music comes from the computers of the people in the room, and streams over the web. Everybody hears the same thing at the same time.
Now I can gather a few buddies digitally, and we can at least fake like we’re sharing something even while simultaneously knocking out other projects.
Give web app a try; test its possibilities. Don’t forget to pass Abe a little feedback when you’re comfortable with it — especially if you’ve got some insight into how to get real-time video plugged in there. I’ve been perfecting some sweet chair moves to Taio Cruz singles, and I think the digital world is just about ready for this jelly.
(Source: lananas)
Why Mark Zuckerberg Is Dusting “The Social Network” Off His Shoulders
As Jesse Eisenberg says in the video above, the word is that Mark Zuckerberg rented a theater and took employees to see the movie. Plenty of smarter individuals have already talked the movie itself to death. It’s been analyzed from many great angles, so instead of trying to make a unique splash in a huge wave pool, I’ll just comment on this news and state the obvious:
Damn, it must feel good to be a gangsta.
Zuckerberg’s handled the press and questions surrounding The Social Network really well thus far. He reminds people that it’s fiction, donates $100 million to Newark, NJ schools, and then probably goes home and bathes in billions at night. In fact, “bathe in billions and push on” has become the new statement for brushing shoulders off between me and my brother, in honor of this amazingly GQ plays made by the real Mark Zuckerberg this year. I’m not familiar enough with the kind of business awards out there to recommend one in particular, but this guy should get the business equivalent of the Oscar for his performance dealing with the movie media frenzy.
Actually, I wanted to give him my own award, but what do you give to a man who can buy everything? The only answer is to share the winning mix of popular hip-hop singles I play for myself on the way to work in the mornings. I’ve retitled it in light of recent cinematic events.
Here’s the tracklist —
‘Catfish’ Trailer Proves Internet Is Still Creepy, But It’s Cool, Bro
When I went to see Easy A today, the trailer for Catfish was among the previews. First of all, Easy A was alright enough. Emma Stone continues to own a part of my heart by being hilarious and effectively relatable. Second of all, I want to see Catfish.
I’m kind of bummed I hadn’t heard anything about it before now, because it’s definitely the sort of movie that appeals to the internet creeper plus meta-loving wretch in me. At first I thought it was some kind of surprise new trailer for The Social Network, but no, it’s actually a movie that just proves again how much social media has infiltrated all aspects of life, namely Facebook and, more recently, Twitter. (The best part of the VMAs last Sunday was how every correspondent in the pre-show got a lower third with their names and then their Twitter handle under that.) This movie also, in its way, celebrates the continued amateur/DIY aesthetic people love about the 21st century with — bonus! — a voyeurism angle.
Watching other real people hook up is the foundation for modern media. That’s what The Real World and XTube have taught me. And it’s repeated a hundred times a day that we live in an age where everyone can be a creator. (My new iPod Touch apparently shoots 720p HD video. An exclusive first look at my major motion picture will be online tomorrow.) Add in a little Paranormal Activity-esque suspense and Catfish seems like a pretty perfect amalgamation of what gets people going these days. It’s also just a really nerdy endeavor, this indirect indicator of how much film, social networking, and reality media have merged, but that’s also part of what makes it seem interesting.
Although it doesn’t make a great case for internet dating. It’s hard out here for digital love.
