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Eight in Eight

Eight in Eight is a project where Amanda Palmer, Neil Gaiman, Ben Folds, and Damian of Ok Go pulled together for what was supposed to be 8 songs in 8 hours (but ended up taking slightly longer). While the group may have underestimated how long the project would take to finish, it still is amazing to me that they did have the finished project within the same day (if you define “day” as “24 hours,” since they ended after midnight). Not only is the amount of time spent on the project impressive, it is also amazing that the work actually sounds good. The songs are definitely not mainstream, but when you look at the contributors this detail shouldn’t surprise you. The album includes a song about Nikola Tesla, and another about Joan of Arc. That last one, called “The Problem With Saints” is performed by Neil Gaiman, who is much better known for his writing than his musical abilities. Neil carries the song fine though, and the subject is so interesting you’re inclined not to judge too harshly.

The whole project is surrounded by a ton of mad, wonderful, creative energy. It was essentially a brainstorming session made public for the world to see (and even contribute). This was made possible by video feeds and Twitter. I have spoken before about the power of the social media tool that Twitter has become, but for all it’s uses this is definitely the most creative I have seen yet. This is the kind of experiment I could only imagine AFP and the rest of the people involved would be able to make work as effectively as they did. The finished product is definitely worth the $1 minimum donation they are asking for (if not more). Plus the money goes to charity, which is also nice. It’s great to see something really big and beautiful come from such a short amount of time. I’m sure the actual process must have been really intense (I know the collective Twitter feeds gave a picture of an intense music-writing workshop). If anyone actually watched the webcast, I would love to hear your comments. (And if any of the artists involved want to comment, I am completely OK with that as well). I will close with a thank you to those involved for being creative and trying something different. I think that is what art is all about, and when the internet and technology get involved it makes it all the better.

*The album can be downloaded on Bandcamp, and more information on the project can be found here.

Chris Hardwick @ Caroline’s – A Review (Sorta)

Warning: This blog might start off semi-professional, but it will quickly turn into “Reasons I Think Chris Hardwick is Awesome”. If you don’t want to read my rambling about, well, anything, then you might want to skip this one. On the other hand, it might be fun to watch me ramble. Heck, I’m rambling right now. But since I’m talking about possibly one of the funniest guys I’ve ever had the privilege to meet, I’m gonna say I’m allowed to be a little silly. And with that I’m just gonna dive into this thing here.

Sorry about the super long intro, folks. I’m gonna rein this one in and finally call this meeting to order. First order of business – the 8pm show at Caroline’s last night. The MC for the evening was Nate Bargatze, and the “Oh God, why do I have to be the one to keep these guys from Chris Hardwick” slot went to Ryan Hamilton. To his credit, he was quite good. I don’t think there was ever more than two minutes throughout the night when I wasn’t laughing. Everyone was funny, and the audience definitely got their money’s worth.

Next I wanna be serious about something for a minute. I’m not usually one to go see live comedy, but I do enjoy watching clips of things online. It is through these means that I have seen a sample of Chris’s stand-up before last night. Even knowing some of the jokes that were coming, I still laughed. This wasn’t a little chuckle, “oh yeah, I remember that one” laugh either. I laughed a lot. I actually don’t remember the last time I laughed that much. So yeah, thanks for that, Chris. You are awesome.

*ding ding ding*

We’ve come to the part where I ramble about reasons Chris Hardwick is Awesome.

1) He’s really funny. See above for some examples why, as well as the sample clip I’ve been passing around to people.

2) He’s a really nice guy. After his set he invited everyone to hang in the lounge and chat with him for a bit. People lined up to get their few minutes, and he was friendly with each and every one of them. I stood back after my few minutes to talk further on what will be my next point, so I witnessed most of the meet-and-greet action. It made me smile.

3) If you follow Chris on Twitter (@nerdist) you might have noticed an invite he did for his street team that wasn’t going to be called a street team. Nope, that didn’t sound cool enough, so instead we are called the Node Warriors. Node is on Twitter as well. The invite lets you create a profile on a site made just for us Warriors. When I talk about this with my friends I usually describe it as a social networking site for nerds. Another way I’ve been looking at it is like a playground that is safe for us nerds to play in. It’s been a lot of fun so far, and if you are looking for fellow nerds to connect with then you should snatch one of those invites the next chance you get. Not only is it a lot of fun, it is pure genius and seriously has made my life just a little better. A big highlight from last night was getting to tell Chris how great I thought this thing was.

That about concludes my ramblings for the day. To recap – Chris Hardwick is awesome and hysterical and you should go see him if at all possible. He’s got two more shows tonight (one at 8, one at 10:30) and a final show on Sunday. Details on Caroline’s website. Also, Node Warriors rule the internet! That is all. Class dismissed, meeting adjourned.

Happy Birthday, Wil Wheaton

News on Shuffle would like to give a great big birthday shout-out to one of our favorite geeks: Wil Wheaton. Once known as Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation, he now has a legion of followers on both Twitter and his blog. Both are sources of entertainment for geeks everywhere. Recently, he also co-founded a live show called w00tstock, which is self-described as “3 hours of geeks + music” – although the show has run for well over that amount in the past. Other names involved in the project include Adam Savage (Mythbusters) and the comedy music duo Paul and Storm. I have mentioned w00tstock on Twitter in the past and would very much like it to come to NYC. Anyone who agrees can Demand It and possibly turn this dream into a reality.

View all New York City events on Eventful

They have said they will come to any city that gets 300 requests, so it really will make a difference whether you do this or not.

[Hey Wil, sorry for hijacking your birthday for my own personal campaign. I do it out of love…?]

*Now back to our regularly scheduled program*

Besides all the other cool things already mentioned, Wil has also made guest appearances on a number of shows, including The Big Bang Theory, Eureka, Leverage, and the web series The Guild. I have to admit, I have never watched Eureka or Leverage (although his guest appearances almost changed that). He was able to get me back on The Big Bang Theory though. I had stopped watching when it became too hard to balance tv with college, but hearing he was making a guest appearance was too exciting to miss. Good thing too, or I would have missed moments like this:

I am now catching up on all the episodes I missed in preparation for the next season. I also became interested in The Guild partially thanks to him. He mentioned the series on Twitter frequently (as did the show’s creator Felicia Day) and eventually I broke down and decided to give it a try.

Best. Decision. Ever.

The show is quirky and wonderful and you really should watch it sometime. They are currently in the middle of Season 3, but you can watch all the episodes here. There’s also two music videos, my favorite of which is

Damn, I did it again. OK, we’re going to consider promoting all these things as our birthday present to Mr. Wheaton. That and this birthday nugget – a clip from one of the w00tstock performances. I’ve watched it a dozen times and it still makes me laugh like a hyena.

Eternal Arr from Dan Coulter on Vimeo.

Bonus Birthday Nugget! Find the hidden Wheaton in this video:

we love xkcd from Olga Nunes on Vimeo.

We love xkcd… and Wil Wheaton. Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Felicia Day

News on Shuffle would like to wish Felicia Day a very happy birthday. The actress has been involved with a number of our favorite things, many of which were created by this Joss Whedon character you keep hearing about. Besides guest appearance on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dollhouse, she has also made an appearance on our new favorite show: Lie to Me. Oh, and she is the star of two of the best thing the internets have given us: Dr. Horrible (another Whedon gem) and The Guild (which she not only created, but also somehow roped Wil Wheaton into being the most awesome character EVER. Geeks everywhere unite, for The Guild is something we can all get behind. If you follow Miss Day on Twitter, you know that S4 of The Guild has finished production and will be available for viewing soon. And if you’ve never seen this little geek-tastic wonder before, well what are you waiting for?! Follow the link down the rabbit hole and enjoy. Each episode is pretty short so even though there are 3 seasons it shouldn’t take too long to get through them all. And as a little birthday present for everyone (b/c 3 seasons of The Guild wasn’t enough) here is my favorite scene from Dr Horrible, starring the birthday girl herself.

Why I Love Technology – Starring Jukebox the Ghost

I have already mentioned how much I love Twitter and all the reason why. Let me add to that how much I love technology in general. First there was the post on Twitter this morning that said:

Good mornin’ tweeters. We’re playing 5 shows in NYC today (one in every borough) ! Come find us.

I then followed a link to this note on Facebook that gave locations and times for each spot they were going to hit. Then I used my cellphone to call a couple friends to make plans to meet up (and postpone plans with two others for tomorrow afternoon). So yeah, I love technology. Without it I would never have been able to have one of the most epic adventures ever. In case you missed it, I got plenty of pics and video footage of the event. I’ll update this post as soon as I finish editing everything (which should be no later than this weekend). Until then, this is News on Shuffle signing off.

Happy Birthday, Neil Patrick Harris

News on Shuffle would like to wish Neil Patrick Harris a very happy birthday. NPH has been in a number of our favorite things, including Dr Horrible, Glee, and How I Met Your Mother. He has also appeared on Broadway a few times, including the revival of Cabaret and the original cast of Assassins. My favorite of these however has to be Dr Horrible. It was a low-budget internet film that grew into a cult phenomena (at least among Whedon fans). The whole cast was great, but Harris was without a doubt my favorite.

Harris has been sharing his birthday wishes with his followers on Twitter for the past week now. The list is entertaining enough to be as much a present for us as it could be for him.

Things I Want for my Birthday (6/15), Chapter 1: an iPhone 4, magical automatons, original Banksy art, and 1 million followers.

Things I Want for my Birthday, Chapter 2: Haunted Mansion memorabilia, an actual Muppet, the superpower to eliminate oil from water, a pony.

Things I Want for my Birthday, Chapter 3: a working, authentic fortune teller booth, and Danielle Staub’s sex tape – but only on Blu-Ray.

Things I Want for my Birthday, Chapter 4: a saltwater aquarium, rad clothes from All Saints, wood burning brick pizza oven, and Disneyland.

What I Want for my Birthday, Chapter 4: Panasonic 152″ 3D plasma TV, Red Dead Redemption for Xbox, the ability to donate blood, and NPH.com. (Correction: Errr… That was Chapter 4.1.)

Things I Want for my Birthday, Chapter 5(ish): Giant labyrinth hedge maze, many lengthy massages, an Immunity Idol from Survivor, and socks. (Changed my mind. Instead of socks, I want a three bedroom loft in SoHo.)

Things I Want for my Birthday, Chapter 7: a goose that lays gold eggs for Easter, map to One-Eyed Willie’s treasure, lifetime supply of Tums

Things I Want for my Birthday, Chapter 8: A rolla bolla, VIP seats to the US Open, this skill: http://tiny.cc/77gtw and a spider monkey.

This morning he posted that CBS got him the Idol he asked for…

The CBS gang got me perhaps the coolest gift ever – the actual Immunity Idol from Survivor: China! Check it: http://yfrog.com/msar9lj

At least he got one thing off the list. As for my contribution, I’m going to try to get him that 1 million followers… either that or the spider monkey.

New Torchwood Series Confirmed

It’s official – Starz and BBC have joined forces to give us an International Torchwood. Not all the details are available but here is what we have so far:

Russell T Davies wrote the pilot 7 months ago and did not take what network it would be on into consideration. Which I think is code for he didn’t care what anyone said and is not going to be watering things down to make people happy. Which shouldn’t be a problem now that Starz will be the network airing the series.

The people behind the show want it to be made clear that this is not a reboot of the show but a continuation of the old series. They are just changing locations to enable more flexibility with the story.

Speaking of story, the only details on that front are the number of episodes that it will take to complete said story – 1o. Which is twice the length of Children of Earth. Imagine the possibilities…

Besides Russell being involved, there are also many other names connected with the previous series coming back (on both sides of the camera) including the two main stars: John Barrowman and Eve Myles. There will also be some new faces as well to complete the team.

Finally, the series air date has not been officially announced but we know it will be sometime during summer 2011. That means we only have one year to wait before we finally get our fix of Torchwood that we’ve been craving. And I’m sure there will be lots more updates from Team Barrowman both on Twitter and his website. News on Shuffle will also give you the latest news as it is made available to us.

Happy Town – Slight of Hand

After taking a break for the past couple of weeks, the residents of Happy Town came back to entertain us last night. Well, most of them did. In the last episode, Tommy’s wife (played by Amy Acker) went missing at the same time the incarcerated Stiviletto brother resurfaced. Could Greggy Stiviletto be the Magic Man we keep talking about? Stay tuned to find out.

We begin this week with the search for Rachel Conroy. It looks like every police officer in town is on the case. Some flowers were left on the door to the Conroy house that seem to be the Magic Man’s calling card. In desperation, he goes to visit his crazy old man for help. “Go see the englishman,” he says.

Englishman = Merritt Grieves.

Tommy takes him into the station for questioning, calling him a “person of immense interest”. He was definitely on my short list for at the very least being involved somehow. He claims he has an alibi for the night (playing cards with the widows of the boarding house) but then reveals he collects information on the Magic Man. By the end of the night we learn he is interested in the case for personal reasons, but we don’t know exactly what those reasons are.

The other story for the week was Henley/Chloe trying to get the creepy goat hammer from Aiden/Greggy. Thought: What is with the double identities meeting each other? And is it a coincidence they hooked up? I guess it makes sense that the two shady people with a past would be drawn to each other, but it seems like more than that maybe. Second thought: Why is it that all of the Stiviletto brothers seem crazy except Greggy? Or is it that Greg is the smart kind of crazy? Which would make him more dangerous.

Back to the main story though: A severed hand shows up in the bread factory. I don’t know what grossed me out more, the idea of cutting someone’s hand off or that it was mixed in with the bread supply for the entire town. Strike that, the second one is definitely grosser. I don’t think I could even look at a loaf of bread again for quite some time if I lived in that town (especially if I was there to see it happen). Anyway, Tommy identifies the ring on the hand as Rachel’s engagement ring but says it isn’t Rachel’s hand. Which actually made sense to me from a casting standpoint. Why get Amy Acker to be one of the stars of the show and then kill her in episode 4? Maybe I’m just bias but I feel like she is one of the bigger names on the cast list. Anyway, it turns out the hand belonged to the first victim and was only severed approximately 48 hours ago. That means the girl had been alive up until that point. Which means that the rest of the victims could be alive too. And not too much later Rachel is found alive, proving my suspicions were correct. All she remembers is being at the festival and everything going dark. Next thing she knows, she is waking up in her own bathtub. She has no idea where she went and didn’t see who nabbed her. Dave mysteriously turns up at the house though, which makes me wonder about him. Maybe all that stuff from before was him covering his tracks because he is really the guy they are looking for…? Or maybe it is a red-herring to throw us off the track.

In other news, Carl Bravin is stuck in his basement with… who is that? We see his face but I couldn’t tell who it was. I’m not even sure it’s someone we’re supposed to know at this point. Mystery Man drives off at the end of the episode, leaving George behind. What’s up with that? More questions to add to the ever-growing pile.

The very last words of the evening are a declaration from Tommy Conroy that “We are going to find the Magic Man”. And that brings us to half-way point for the season (and likely the series). It has been promised that by the last episode (which airs June 30th) we will know who the Magic Man is. That is the only reason I am still watching this show, since ABC doesn’t seem to want to give it the chance it deserves. There is a petition going around to save the show and a Twitter campaign to go with it, but I am skeptical it will do much good. I have still participated though in the hopes I will be pleasantly surprised.

Blockbuster vs Netflix

I track this blog daily, and I know some of you find me via Twitter, which just adds to my ever-growing love for the thing. If any of you follow Whedonesque, you will likely recognize this post from them today.

The Thursday Quote – Topher:”I’m obsolete. This must be what old people feel like.. and Blockbuster. “

After which you probably laughed and thought “It’s funny cause it’s true.” And in my case decided it warranted a blog post about how Netflix changed the movie rental business. You see, Blockbuster was great for its time, but I find more and more people are using Netflix now. The one good thing I can say about Blockbuster was you could rent as many movies as you wanted at one time and my family shared one card. If you want to rent enough movies at once to have an all-night marathon, then Netflix might not be for you. That is not normal consumption though. Normally you want to rent one or two movies at once, which works with Netflix. And if you want to do this process frequently enough, paying a monthly fee becomes a lot cheaper than renting all those movies individually. Add the “instant watching” feature and you have got yourself a great deal. That last point especially made my switch to Netflix money well-spent. I realize Blockbuster also has an online component now, but I compared the two and still found Netflix to be better. Sorry Blockbuster, but Topher was right – you are obsolete.

TWLOHA Wins USA Today Contest

Congratulations to To Write Love On Her for winning the USA Today contest, which stated that the person with the most posts on Twitter from a charity’s followers that said “#AmericaWants [name of charity] to get a full-page ad in USA Today” would win the prize. America spoke, and the word was Love. Now they can spread their message of Hope to millions of USA Today readers. The organization has asked suggestions of what to put in the ad. What do you say to 4 million people? Do you have any suggestions?