Re-mix-mix-mix

Always a fan of the remix culture, this post on the Medium about the fusion of sampling and youtube caught my eye. The ThruYOU project pulls rhythm, sound, harmony, melody, and vocals from amateur youtube musicians. Here's one funky mix:

While we're checking out grassroots music magic, here is another project, Playing for Change, that brings together the dedicated international talent of street musicians across space and time. They recorded various layers of the song "Stand by me" on street corners across the globe to create this goosebump-inducing knitting of music:

And remix can't be complete without mentioning name-your-price recent release of Remix Manifesto. Director Brett Gaylor talked to Wired about the six-year project about copyright laws in music. Between my undying love for Girl Talk and the unavoidable topic of intellectual property in my New Media classes, I can't wait to sit down and watch this documentary (currently downloading). 

Texts for Last Night

"Remember that text you shouldn't have send last night? We do." is the ruthlessly relatible motto of the new site Texts from Last Night. Like FML's cooler older sibling, TFLN (too many acronyms!) is a site that lets you anonymously post the drunken text convo that result from a night of debauchery. Originating from Detroit, when I first came across the site I thought it was just another diluted dream of Oakland County rich kids to become infamously toocool. Except this one seems to have worked... I checked out the site today to see if it was still alive. Not only is it alive, it is thriving. The facebook page for the site already has 20,000 fans. This site is guilty pleasure at its worst. And damn does it feel good.

Friend Request from Obama: Accepted

The Obama Admin made another historic move to incorporate social networking applications into the relationship between the Prez and his people. The Official White House Photostream on Flickr. Some pictures are presidential and boring, but there are some candid everyday photos of just how many navy suits and red tied walk the halls of the White House everyday. And the puppy of course.

Obama also has a facebook page, youtube channel, myspace account, twitters, and probably others that I'm missing. I applaud the admin's efforts to stay connected and let people follow Obama the way we know how to; the language of social networking. We all speak it. Thanks to Obama for finally acknowledging that you should go to the people inside of the people having to come to you.

Bonnaroo + Daily Show = Love

It's that soul-searching time of the year - what festivals to go to this summer. Thanks to Justin's reviews and finding out I won't be losing my festival buddy to Fiji this summer, I am in a quandary over which to attend. I've already got my Lollapalooza tickets in hand to celebrate my sister's birthday on another hot and music-filled weekend. My next two choices are Rothbury round 2 or Bonnaroo. Doc was comparing the lineups yesterday and found two little gems hidden among the artists on the Bonnaroo list - Jimmy Fallon and Daily Show correspondents John Oliver and Rob Riggle (plus producers). Sold.

Music from Staten Island

Children's choirs may be the most fuzzy-feeling-inducing sound in this cold prickly world. I don't know why it's taken me so long to discover the kids of PS22 choir in Staten Island.  These kids are singing Coldplay, Tori Amos, and Bjork! They seem so genuinely inspired by singing in the videos. Bravo to their teacher, Mr. B, for turning music into more than just a practice in scales. You can recognize their amazing backup vocals for Passion Pit's "Reeling". I sang choir for four years and never got to sing anything cooler than Handel. I got chills when I first heard "Eye of the Tiger" on Pop Candy.

Tweet-izzle

I'm not on Twitter (I think because the media got to it before the masses, it never achieved its al-important grassroots initiative, and therefore lost the influence of college students everywhere) but I love a good culture matrix. So here is the Twitter Matrix brought to you by NY Mag, so you can distinguish the Rachel Maddows from the Snoops. 

The only tweet I'd follow would be if this Tine Fey character was really her.

Afterlife and the City

It's official. The Sex and the City cast is complete for a sequel to the supposed-to-be-final-chapter movie of the show. Chris Noth has signed on to play Big in the movie, to be released in Summer 2010. I don't know anyone that is actually excited or even surprised by this "BIG NEWS!!!" of a sequel. But does it even matter anymore? Advertisers are still going to gobble up the gold mine of committed fans that will go see the movie anyways. Its like someone coming back to life. We said our goodbyes, we were at peace with the happy endings, we had moved on. But wait! They're still alive and living in NYC! Its not a happy ending! The wounds are reopened and you must know what will happen now, for final closure. Again. 

Also - SJP and Ferris Bueller are having twins this summer from a surrogate mother. Do with this what you may.

Video killed the Radio Starlet

While I'm still in the swells of podcast love, I have a newfound level of cool for radio personalities. NY Mag did a profile on 16-year-old Keili Hamilton, the youngest radio DJ on WFMU, an indie station broadcasting to NYC and Jersey. She makes me cure my parents for letting me listen to hours of Broadway soundtracks instead of PJ Harvey when I was little.

Advertising Backlash

Commoners are finally getting smart about how to get corporate attention. $$$$. The show Chuck on NBC is being threatened with cancellation. There is a small but strong band of fans of the show that are petitioning to save the show. But instead of writing letter to the network that will never get read for fear of anthrax or revolution, fans are going to speak in the language of the corporation - advertising dollars. Subway is a major sponsor of the show with product placement sprinkled throughout episodes. On the night of the finale (tonight) fans are encouraged to buy footlong subs to let the advertisers decide if they want to pull out of this gold mine of customers.

I'm wearing it as a joke

I could watch 30 Rock a hundred times and always find some new quip buried under the plot. That's why I watched last night's episode 3 times (one for every glass of wine I poured). When Liz and Jack google "la viuda negra" to uncover Elisa's dark secret, this is the website they find. Liz: "Blue writing on green...Why??" My web design prof would have been so proud. We spend an hour of class last week looking at the world's worst websites.

Also, per the AV Club, during the montage of Tracey JORDAN'S stomach there is a clip of Tracey MORGAN flashing his stomach during a chicago news broadcast. Trying to hunt down the clip now.

And lots of special guests for the finale!