Witness the Hub

This is another taste of Seesmic. I had the opportunity to cut Loic Lemeur's show yesterday. Loic is the company's founder and he also hosts a daily vlog called Seesmic Du Jour that details his experience launching Seesmic. The show is usually cut by Mr. Whit Scott, but he was busy playing Ultimate Frisbee in Italy.

The Reason that I'm sharing the show on TeamJaded is because Loic has an interesting guest. He talks to a guy named Sameer Padania who works for an organization called Witness. I'll let them explain what Witness is all about...


Oh, and notice the color in that video? So vibrant. That's our Canon A1, I love that camera.

Cheers! Tiki Bar TV & Pimm's Cup

My favorite drink is the Pimm's Cup. The Pimm's Cup is a delicious cocktail consisting of:

1-2 shots Pimm's No. 1 Liqueur
Ginger Ale
Lemonade (or Champagne)
Cucumbers
(with additional and variations on these ingredients)

So if you enjoy reading teamjaded with a refreshing cocktail, I can guarantee you’ll love watching Tiki Bar TV. After only a couple episodes, you’ll realize every problem can be solved with a great cocktail! The production, acting, and writing is superb. And to that, I say “Cheers!” Or if I were in another country I might say:

Belgium: Op Uw Gezonheid!
China: Wen Lie!
Denmark: Skal!
Ethiopia: Letenatchie!
Germany: Prosit!
Indonesia: Selamat!
Israel: L'Chayim!
Italy: Alla Salute!
Japan: Kanpai!
Morocco: Saha Wa Afiab
Poland: Na Zdrowie!
Russia: Jobnyem!
South Africa: Gesonoheid!
Spain & Mexico: Salud!
Sweden: Skal!
Ukraine: Bud'mo! (how has Budweiser not jumped on that one?)

Below find two fabulous videos. The first is Tiki Bar TV: episode 25, “Blue Hawaiian (guest staring Diggnation’s own Kevin Rose). The second is an intricate recipe on how to make your own Pimm's Cup. Teamjaded asks you to please watch responsibly.

"Who says gentrification isn't funny?"

Apparently I’m out of touch. I just found “The Burg.” I know what you’re probably thinking… and the Staged Play version of our conversation would go a little something like this:

ACT ONE
Scene 1

You: [confused / concerned] Uh, Abby… I thought you were really into the whole ‘Internet TV’ thing.
Me: [fiddling with hands, pretends not to be ashamed] Uh, yes. Yes I am.
You: But how could you have NOT known about “The Burg.”
Me: [searching for answers] Maybe it’s because I moved away from New York? You know I live in SF now. And, uh, you know it’s all about Williamsburg. Get it? The Burg?! Woo.
You: Well, um, everyone knows about it. It’s been on Internet for over a year. Plus, they’ve been featured everywhere- from the New York Times to Wired.
Me: [looks longingly towards the computer screen, world freezes, proceed with soliloquy] You’ve let me down, Internets. YOU’VE let me down!! How could this have happened!!! [drops to knees] NOOOOO!

END SCENE

Well, technically the Internet didn’t let me down. It was just over a year late updating me on said IPTV program. I’m not even going to write on how good (or bad) the actual show is. Mainly, I want to point out 5 things.

1. High quality TV on the Internet. Bang. It’s happening. Thank you.
2. “Who says Gentrification isn’t funny?” No one. And that’s why this works.
3. Ad Sponsors. Nice work, my friends.
4. It’s Williamsburg in all its beauty: “Trust fund kids pretend to be starving artists, starving artists pretend to be able to live completely off of credit cards, and everybody pretends not to notice."
5. Which perfectly leads into the last point. They should do an episode in the Mission in SF. It could be exactly the same show except fixed-gears could make an appearance. Although maybe The Burg has field-tripped to the Barmuda Triangle*, I haven’t watched them all. Actually, I’ve watched about approximately .08% of the episodes. Don’t tell.

So there you have it. Another IPTV show, doin' it. For you. Enjoy.



*attributed to Lector Mangrave.

My neighbor and I have more in common than I thought.

I recently found out that I am like Mr. Rogers.



Although I don't usually sit around watching my neighbor's breakdance, according to Mental Floss, Mr. Rogers got into TV because he hated TV. Turns out, Mr. Rogers and I have that in common.

Mr. Rogers hated it because he saw people throwing pies at each other, and he felt the medium could be used for better purposes. And that’s what he did. He taught the world to be friends.

I use to think I hated TV because the actors sucked, or the plot was bad, or it was over dramatic. But now, I’m starting to think it was because I had no say in it; No control over what happened with it. Braden Dick says it best:

“There is no way for us as viewers to have a meaningful interaction with our televisions. We as viewers cannot openly and successfully challenge the rhetoric of television to any degree approaching success. We as viewers are presented with an increasingly complex set of ideologies to which we hold no real recourse of rebuttal in the form of our own independent ideas and beliefs.”

Nowadays we all can discuss what is good, and what is bad. A network executive can still pull the plug on a million dollar show because he thinks the ratings aren’t high enough. But now, it’s the videos that get a mass grassroots following that make a mark. It might not be as glossy as “So you think you can Dance”, but 49 million viewers watched “The Evolution of Dance”. It’s no epic Dawson’s Creek, but Lonely Girl captured a huge following. And this is only the beginning.

Nielson ratings be gone. We’ve got red stars, Diggs, and hit counts now.

Seeking Internet Genius to Waste Time on Really Bad Idea for Free

Everywhere I look there's a new Web 2.0 start up that's going to "change the way the world looks at the Internet." Not only are there a bazillion new IPTV channels, but companies everywhere are looking for people to join in... for free. Let's just say they haven't recieved their Venture Capital yet.

Eitherway, this craigslist post sums it up perfectly.

It's All Happening.

So it’s crazy to think that in our mid-twenties we’ve started our own company. Now, this might not seem too crazy for anyone who knows Jeremey. He’s been Jaded for years. A skateboarder, DIY-er, “I made my own ‘zine” guy, it’s not too hard to imagine him going full-force with an independent venture. I, however, have been a corporate glom-on since I left college. Yes, I wasn’t going to ‘sell-out’ after I left college radio, but guess what? I worked for the Number 5 Fortune 500 Entertainment Industry company, Viacom… right next to Number 6: Clear Channel. And thanks to my University’s Writing Dept, anyone who has ever googled my name know’s I’ll never get a job there.

But even though the views from the 48th floor in Times Square were beautiful, there was something missing. Maybe it was a few of my brain cells, but I knew that I needed something more. I guess “more” meant flying across the country to go work for Al Gore… More appropriately, Current TV. It was here in San Francisco that I learned the world is changing; and not just because of Global Warming (thank you Inconvenient Truth). But the world in which we consume media is changing. From Cable to On Demand, from YouTube, AppleTV, and Milan… it’s all happening. Almost anyone can own an HD Camera (albeit you definitely need some funding), and Final Cut Pro is basically available to the masses.

TV production is no longer for the elite. It no longer is in the hands of the few. Those with the money may have the connections, but they don’t control the content and the distribution anymore. Things are changing and Jaded Multimedia will be apart of it.

In his blog “Video on the Net” on BuzzMachine.com, Jeff Jarvis says it best:
“The first and more important lesson: We now have the tools to control not just the consumption but the creation of media.”

So as we start this new adventure, we’ll continue to work with innovative TV companies (like Current TV), and foster new relationships with amazing IPTV stations (see the links!). Our hope is that we can create meaningful content, that’s fun to watch, and has a positive impact in the world.

Now I’m done being cheesy. It’s time to get crazy.

We’ll be updating this blog daily. Random stuff. We’ll discuss anything. From wack stats, to rad artists, and random news, we’ll be throwin it down. And we’d be pretty psyched if ya’ll joined in the conversation. Stay tuned.