The Listserve: What Happens When One Person Speaks To The World At A Time

If you could say something to a million people, what would you say? You probably already do speak to many people daily, if you're lucky enough to have hundreds or maybe just dozens of followers on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and just as many friends on Facebook. And I'm sure you always have a lot to say.

No offense, but is everyone really listening to you?

While you may think the most important thing for the world to know right now is that you made a mean apple pie (pictures included), your followers and online friends may have a different set of priorities, and as such, your apple pie photos get lost among the chaos that is the Internet.

But a group of students at New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) graduate program are playing and experimenting with something pretty cool. They call it The Listserve.

So here's what happens. You subscribe on their website, just like any other listserv (there's a cute video on the homepage that you can distract yourself with before you subscribe). Each day, one person out of the vast list of subscribers is chosen to send an email to the entire listserv. Talk about pressure, right? Especially considering that the 11,000+ subscribers include people from all over the world, from Lithuania to Vietnam. No more does that apple pie you were dying to show everyone seem so great.

On the other hand, if you do happen to make a mean apple pie, feel free to let me know. I'm a sucker for a good apple pie recipe.

But what's the idea behind this online social experiment? According to co-creator Alvin Chang, a second year graduate student at ITP, the creators wanted to see how people could interact differently with an old medium - in this case, the "old medium" is email (isn't that weird to hear?).

There's something intimate about an email inbox, no? In an increasingly non-intimate world, an email seems like a personal letter to you, and only you, complete with scented stationary and your name handwritten on the front of the envelope. Of course, we all go through the daily ritual of cleaning and scrubbing out spam and junk messages. But giving someone your email address, as opposed to your Facebook ID or your Twitter handle, is like saying "Hey, I'm really interested to hear what you want to tell me. Let's talk in private."

So imagine sending an email just like that, except to a million people. Really, what would you say? All these people have signed up, wanting to hear you. Suddenly, you're in the spotlight, and the world is literally your stage.

Fortunately, the emails have already started coming in, and I love getting them. One of the first emails was from Emil Stenström, an interface developer from Stockholm who decided to use his bit of fame to preach the idea of "Everyday Action", and the power of making the little things in life exciting, rather than sitting and waiting for the next big adventure. Pretty powerful stuff, and a great way to start this potentially viral experiment. Writers also have the chance to include their contact information if they want to continue the conversation with the people they've reached, and according to Stenström, he's gotten over 90 replies in his inbox already.

Something weird is happening. After receiving that first message from Stenström, I looked him up (naturally), and found that a variety of other Listserve enthusiasts, blogs, and online news websites were talking about that first message they received as well - the same one, of course. All of a sudden, I imagine the entire world  at one moment in time, thinking of the same person, and their message. Obviously, The Listserve is only at 11,000+ subscribers. But imagine if it did really go up to 1 million? And beyond? These ITP students have found a way to get people to stop and listen, through the simple power of the inbox.

The Internet is vast, and the world is even more vast. But your email inbox is not.

The Epilogue Of The Dharun Ravi Story

So. The very infamous case of Dharun Ravi has left him with 10 years of jail and guilty on all counts (including bias intimidation, harassment, and invasion of privacy), with a possibility of appealing the ruling, although it won't get rid of the jail time completely. In fact, had he pleaded guilty in the first place, Ravi would have only been sentenced to 600 hours of community service and probation. A teeny-tiny bit better than 10 years in jail, but that's just me.

But here's the bigger question.

What are universities going to do now about cyber bullying? Now, it's not just about Ravi, but about Rutgers, and every other university out there. After all, the suicide of a student reflects badly on a university, and that is the understatement of the century. As an NYU student, I've heard many horror stories about the effects of harassment (check out the floor of Bobst Library...). While people may argue about whether or not what Ravi did was considered "harassment" - he in fact, was not charge with Clementi's actual death - there's no doubt that what was done, had a part in the suicide. Which means, in an age of the ubiquitous social media, college administrations are under more pressure to do something about it.

In this article from WNYC, the writer raises a very interesting point about the fine line between freedom of speech and harassment. With internet censorship (re: SOPA) at the forefront of our nation's issues, it's definitely hard for university administrations to find a solution to cyber bullying. And it's even more difficult to figure out what cyber bullying is.

I'm sure everyone at some point in their Facebook lives, has had their account hacked by a friend, a relative, or maybe some stranger who just got lucky guessing your password. Most of the time, these hackings result in nothing more than, say, funny status changes and a sudden awkward profile picture. For most, it's just annoying.

But is it cyber bullying? I'll admit, I'm guilty of having done said "hackings" to others' Facebook accounts for fun. But when a friend hacking turns into an enemy hacking, things can get ugly, and there's no set solution to fix that. In fact, one of the only ways to prevent cyber bullying is to confront the person or tell someone else about it, but you can't guarantee that someone who has already been beaten down so much will come forward.

The unfortunate thing about freedom is that "with great power, comes great responsibility" - meaning some people decide to act irresponsibly or dangerously with the freedom they are given. So what are universities to do? Can they really impose any sort of cyber bullying act that doesn't restrict their students' freedom to use the internet as they please?

Hey Look, A New Book! (And Other Concerns)

Just finished this book. Let me start by saying that I love Mindy Kaling and all that she is. Not just because she's Indian - okay that's a big part of it. But she's Indian and she's a writer/producer/director on The Office, one of my favorite shows on TV right now, and probably one of the few shows I can quote confidently slash remember entire episode plots of off the top of my head from watching just a few seconds of it.

You don't get a lot of Indian comedy writers in Hollywood. I mean, I suppose any sort of successful Indian person in Hollywood makes me happy, because it proves that we can do other things besides be doctors, lawyers, and engineers. Don't get me wrong - those professions are top-notch, and one of the reasons I watch shows like House MD or Royal Pains is because I'm sure subconsciously I want to be a doctor. But I know my destiny lies in TV, in the arts, and possibly in writing (since I am a journalism major). I just gravitate towards those professions naturally, I can't help it.

I think it would be cool to work in comedy. I've always been a huge fan of comedy, and reading this book made me realize how attracted I am to it. I'm obsessed with making people laugh, and I'm obsessed with people who can make other people laugh.  I have a huge amount of respect for comedians and comedic actors, because I think there's a real art in understanding and parodying the absurdities of life, and I long to perfect it myself. Here is my list of favorite comedic moments in TV/movies, inspired by Mindy (in no particular order):

1) The fire cold open in season 5, episode 14 of The Office, where Dwight scares the entire office with a simulated fire and everyone goes ballistic. There are so many genius moments in this sequence, starting with Kevin breaking open the vending machine, to Angela throwing her cat through the ceiling, and Michael smashing his window with a chair screaming for help. Tears of laughter and gasping breaths every time.

2) Inspector Clouseau (Steve Martin) failing at parallel parking in The Pink Panther. This gets me every time. First of all, I love that movie to bits, and I think Steve Martin is genius. Yes, I know he's not the original, and believe me, I respect the original Inspector just as much. My dad has made sure of that.

3) Drunk Rob Petrie in a scene from The Dick Van Dyke Show: "My Husband Is Not a Drunk". I love Dick Van Dyke. He is just so handsome. And exceptionally talented at comedy, both verbal and physical. This scene is my favorite in particular because of the "switch" between sober Rob and drunk Rob that occurs because he has been accidentally hypnotized to act drunk every time the phone rings (which it does in this scene, a lot). The way he works the switch is so fascinatingly funny.

4) Ross' absurd story in season 9, episode 5 of Friends. I love sarcasm, it is my idol. I thrive on it. David Schwimmer is a great actor, and this scene is just one of many favorite from that show. God, I miss that show.

5) The cocaine scene in Horrible Bosses. This movie was funnier than I was expecting, and this scene is just the tip of the icing on the...cake, or whatever the saying is. It's the best of the movie. It's basically Charlie Day and Jason Bateman (two of my favorites) trying to sift out the crap load of cocaine they spilled on the carpet of one of their bosses' homes, and consequently getting high in the process. I'm laughing just thinking about how absurd that scene was.

Oh, there are more, and I'm sure someday I'll create an official list once I get my head together. Does this list say something about me? Does it say what kind of comedy I like? I did that with famous actors once to figure out what "my type" was with guys. In a list containing Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, NPH, and Matthew Fox, I figured it's Ralph Lauren model-preppy-but-goofy-type, but that's besides the point. In any case, I'd have to figure out some more favorite comedic moments before I can decide that I think. Yeah, I definitely would like to work in comedy someday.

Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides

Let's get one thing straight - there is no epic love story here, as there was with the first three "Pirates" films, revolving around the upper-class Elizabeth Swann and her dashing hero slash quick-witted sword smith, Will Turner. Perhaps that's what made the audience become so emotionally involved and partially what drove the entire story of the former trilogy. In this fourth installment, rather, the jokes are funnier, the characters are snappier, and Johnny Depp gets more screen time (which is no problem for me). There is definitely a great ton of new characters which is great as a fresh start from the past films, but after a while you can start to draw parallels between each new character and their former counterpart. Some of them work, some don't, but I'm glad to see that Jack Sparrow's drunken hi-jinks still have me laughing and clapping my hands in appreciation.

So what's he up to this time? If you've seen the end of the last film in the franchise, "At World's End", you see Sparrow (Johnny Depp) adding a new prize to his never ending list of prizes - the Fountain of Youth. So just as planned, Capt. Jack Sparrow and Capt. Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) join forces in this film to find this elusive fountain, but on the way find that the pirate Capt. Blackbeard (Ian McShane) and his seductive daughter Angelica (Penelope Cruz) are also after the same thing, which creates complications. Sparrow and Angelica evidently have a history, and he's not sure whether or not she's the love of his life or if she's a con-artist merely using him to get to the fountain. After getting kidnapped by Angelica and forced onto Blackbeard's ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, Sparrow finds himself on his newest adventure filled with zombie pirates (yes, you read right), mermaids, and a new mismatched crew.

I thought that after watching Depp sway and slur and narrowly escape death several times throughout the past films, I would get tired of the same old situations. But it seems that there's still something newly funny in this character he's so brilliantly created. Does he swing around on ropes? Yes. Does he make funny faces? Yes. Does he narrowly miss being shot at and/or stabbed? Yes. Alright, so there is a lot of the same old stuff. Maybe it's because he's been given a new set of characters to play off of, but I still found myself grinning and enjoying each scene. Sometimes you can unfortunately see the joke coming from a mile away because by now, you feel like you know Capt. Jack Sparrow, but he's still got a few new tricks up his sleeve. I commend Johnny Depp for creating such a solid character that can withstand four movies of the same franchise, and not have the audience nodding off to sleep in boredom by the end of it. I won't spoil it, but he gives you quite a good laugh at the end - let's just say that I give props to the music editor.

Angelica is somewhat of a departure from Elizabeth Swann, though Cruz plays her just as hardheaded and outspoken. I'm not a big fan of Cruz, and her character is admittedly none too exciting. Still, she plays the dark-haired seductress Angelica well, who is quick to know how to get what she wants. Perhaps the perfect match for Sparrow? The chemistry is definitely strong between Cruz and Depp - or maybe it's just because they both seem to have the same taste in eye makeup.

Now that there's no straight man Will to balance out Jack, we've got a new dashing young lad to obsess over. Ladies, prepare yourselves. Philip Swift (Sam Claflin), a missionary trapped aboard Blackbeard's ship plays a strong-minded, religious man who falls for one of the mermaids that the crew encounters. I was surprised to see the film include religious references, but it was fortunately subtle. The minute I saw Swift tied up as prisoner on Blackbeard's ship, I heard an odd ringing in my ears that sounds faintly like a thousand screaming fan girls. Hm. His love story is sweet and Claflin does well with the very limited role he's given. He's also very nice to look at.

Mermaids, by the way, are not really The Little Mermaid type in this film - rather, they're more like the Sirens of Greek Mythology, the dangerous seductresses that lure sailors to unfortunate ends. An interesting twist.

Ian McShane does a good job of playing Blackbeard. And actually, this film does depart from the other three in that it is the first to include actual historical figures, like Blackbeard, and also King George II and Ferdinand the VI of Spain. Blackbeard's got a few of his own "mystical" tricks to watch out for. But I feel that no enemy of Sparrow's will ever have as great a presence as Barbossa, or at least when he was still an enemy. I remember getting chills when we first heard of the Black Pearl and it's captain that was "so evil, that Hell itself spat him back out" - Geoffrey Rush's portrayal was downright creepy and the rhythm of his dialogue was like a haunting trance. Instead, McShane's Blackbeard is lighter and a bit more comical, which plays off of Depp's Sparrow just fine.

My one great criticism of this film, however, is the introduction of "zombie pirates". Remember how Barbossa's crew was cursed as the undead, who become skeletons in the moonlight? That CG was amazing. Except in this film, we've got a new cursed crew, Blackbeard's crew, who are...zombies. Hold up, aren't zombies, pirates, ninjas, and werewolves all supposed to be in different categories (at least according to Facebook games)? Can you actually mix together two of them? In any case, the "zombie" aspect threw me off, and was not a necessary addition. That's just asking for mockery, come on.

The cinematography was great as usual, though I unfortunately saw it in 3-D, as "Pirates" has fallenprey to Hollywood's great obsession with three-dimensionalism. Leave the 3-D to animation, please. I wouldn't call this particular installment a family film, though the jokes and witty banter are often enough to save it from becoming too dark and creepy. I can see the directors trying to create a few more "Pirates" films, although the charm would probably start to wear off after the fifth or sixth one. After learning that Eric Whitacre, one of my all-time favorite composers, was collaborating with Hans Zimmer on this soundtrack, I was left a bit disappointed with the music. With past epic scores like "At Wit's End", I was expecting more. But then again, there wasn't much in this film that called for brilliant scoring.

Bottom line: go see it if you've enjoyed the franchise so far, but don't expect to have a changing experience.

Thanks A Lot, NBC.

So I just finished watching what I thought was the season finale of Outsourced one of my new favorite workplace comedies on NBC set in India. I will say that when the show first started, I was afraid it would be teeming with easy stereotypical humor, but it's proven to be a solid comedy with refreshing jokes and the amusing idiosyncrasies of Indian life (and call-center life). Not to mention, some of the actors on the show such as Parvesh Cheena (Gupta) and Sacha Dhawan (Manmeet) are pretty brilliant, and as an Indian-American, it warms my heart to see good Indian actors on TV.

Except what I thought was a season finale, was actually a series finale. Yes, that's right. Outsourced has been officially taken off the air and won't be returning for a second season.

But good news! NBC is adding new pilots to its lineup like Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea and BFFs, the former being a show revolving around Chelsea Handler. Yay!

Did you sense the sarcasm in that last sentence? I hope you did. Because this is just ridiculous. Finally, NBC comes along with a decent, international workplace comedy, and with a heartwarming finale, they swipe it away. First of all, if they were planning to end the show at the end of the first season, they shouldn't have ended it the way they did. I won't give away any spoilers, but it definitely had me wanting a new episode soon to see the progression of a possibly interesting new storyline.

By the way, Two and a Half Men is still going strong with the new addition of Ashton Kutcher. Oh, great. Don't get me wrong, I love Ashton Kutcher. But the show needs to go, it's not funny.

I just feel that the people in the corporate offices need to get their heads on straight, and understand the difference between good, refreshing comedy, and comedy that smells like wet dog. Or at least, don't introduce us to great TV and then play the meanest April Fool's joke ever. I really commended them for moving in the right direction, away from safe, stereotypical humor in Outsourced. You were doing fine, what happened?? I can't imagine that the official ratings reflect the true audience reactions, because I know plenty of people that love the show.

I hope this is a bad dream, I really do. In the meantime, NBC also seems to be picking up another pilot, crossed over from the UK - Free Agents, starring Hank Azaria. Now, I do love me some Hank, even though the movie industry hasn't really been the greatest to him in terms of film roles. Word has it that the network is hoping this show will garner as much success as the hugely popular crossover, The Office. I think that's aiming a bit too high, since The Office is very much its own thing (though now, with the loss of Michael Scott, I might have to eat my words...so sad).

What do you think? Are you happy to see Outsourced go? Comment away!

Sometimes, Addiction Is A Good Thing

Honestly. Because the thing I happen to be addicted to at the moment is basically beating my education at its job.

TEDTalks.

Ever heard of them? No?

WHAT?

Please, just humor me, and watch this:



(Courtesy of TED.com)

First of all, I love the way the he opens up with his personal experience with his baby boy. Hearing his son progress from "gaa" to "water" was probably one of the more flabbergasting things I have seen on the Internet.

But this is a lecture. And in a culture where the word “lecture” automatically conjures up an image of sleepy college students half-listening to a professor, it is strange to see that most people who watch TEDTalks are of this same demographic - college students. What is it about these lectures, or “talks” that have people sitting up in their seats?

Just out of my own curiosity, I talked to some students at NYU to get an idea of why they liked TEDTalks so much, and what made these lectures so fascinating to them. Some people said it was because you could learn so much from these people, but not have to sit down for an hour and suffer through a long, boring speech. I would agree - each talk is about 18-20 minutes long, which is perfect for someone like me who is always on the go. And TEDTalks are set up in such a way that the speakers come with the intention of hooking the audience in from the get-go, and wanting to be popular to contrary opinion.

Other people said it was because they felt that these speakers were a new wave of inspiration, rather than celebrities or the rich and famous that many people look up to nowadays.

...I don't know about that. I mean, I still think Johnny Depp is the man, and he dropped out of high school.

But seriously, everytime I see one of these lectures, I just want to get up and do something revolutionary. Or at least run a mile to work off the adrenaline rush. When I see it in writing, it sounds ridiculous, yes I know. But these people are an inspiration to me. I feel like these talks can define the new generation of education, as a revolutionary way of teaching, practically rather than academically. Unfortunately, while I praise and worship TEDTalks, I feel like not enough people know about them, which is a shame. Though I am not a part of TED, I feel like the next step for them would be to actively seek out educational institutes around the world and implementing these speakers or talks into those school curriculums - or having teachers and professors doing it the other way around . Imagine watching Deb Roy's talk in your boring, high school psychology class, or better yet, have the actual Deb Roy speak to your boring, high school psychology class. Now, doesn't that psychology class sound a little better?

But while the TED people in their cute little Manhattan office work on that, here I am, publicizing these talks to you, those few people out there that read this blog. Go ahead, learn something new.

I dare you.

(PS. If you remember a while ago I posted a music-related article mentioning my choral hero, Eric Whitacre - here is a talk by him on TED.com about his "virtual choir". It's definitely worth a look-see.)



(Courtesy of TED.com)
(Now, asking me to compare between this guy and Johnny Depp, well, that's a whole different ball game.)

If You're That Person That Reads The Last Page Of A Book First - This Is For You.

Guess what I found on someone's tumblr? Kudos to my sister for showing this to me, by the way. For those that remember this from the book, it's Potterwatch, the radio show that Fred and George Weasley hosted on a secret radio channel while Harry, Ron, and Hermione were on the run. Apparently it's actually in the movie, and I'm surprised it hasn't been leaked onto any official Harry Potter website yet. So far, I've just seen it reblogged from tumblr to tumblr. So here's a sneak peek for those who don't have tumblrs (which is about 0.0001% of the population, apparently):

I'm so glad they're putting this in the movie.

So, in light of the upcoming new Harry Potter movie, I'd like to direct your attention to Mugglenet.com, who has been so kind to create a page on their website that has a compilation of every Deathly Hallows TV spot/sneak peek/trailer/miscellaneous video that has been sent out into the world. Here are some extra clips that aren't on the page, because it hasn't exactly been updated yet (they're all on the home page, just scattered among different posts):

1.

2.

3.

4.

5. (Yes, this one is in Dutch)


6.

They've released so many clips now, that I think I might stop watching for new ones. After all, I don't want the entire movie to be spoiled for me. But they've done a good job of releasing clips of the not-so-important-scenes that seem to either come before or after the big scenes. As long as the big scenes aren't spoiled.

And yes, I've already bought my midnight premiere ticket. I had a Fandango alert sent to my email the minute tickets were on sale (about mid-October), and bought it immediately. Just to show that I am not being paranoid, tickets in the lower Manhattan area were sold out two weeks after I got mine. Now who's crazy?

Also, I want to clarify that this post is not in support of those who read the last page of a book first. That's horrible, stop it. Stop it now.