I'd like to thank the Internet...

The 2009 Webby award winners have been announced! What this means for me: One more year that my genius has been overlooked in favor of 1000 favorite things. But on the upside, it means more websites for me to check out and report back on!

Can't get Enough of JJ Abrams

JJ Abrams is the new black in the geek world with Star Trek out on Friday, Lost 100th episode last week, and the guest editor of Wired this month. He was on the Colbert Report last night with more puzzles.

Zooey is the Fabric of MY Life

And finally today - because I learned how to embed videos and because I know everyone loved to stalk Zooey Deschanel as much as I do - Zooey's new Cotton commercial!

Iron Chef Microwave

I'm not a big cook. It's intimidating and too many ingredients. I prefer the pre-made stuff from people that already know the good seasonings and "pairings". My next mission is to check out Urban Fresh, a new grocery store for people like me that choose to leave the cooking to the professionals. But after making my first successful 3-step recipe for salmon, I had to admit it was kind of cool. Perfectly timed as always, Whitney Matheson posted the launch of a new Food Network website for 20-something-friendly cooking tips and recipes, Food2.com.  

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.