MY URBAN KVETCH

And My Purim Costume Was...

I was my Facebook profile for Purim. Awesome.

Many of the people who saw this picture thought I had just sent them a picture of my Facebook profile. They didn't get the 3D nature of it - which I credit to my amazing acting skills, that I am able to visualize myself as a photograph and appear two-dimensional.

As many of you know, I have many halfway decent ideas throughout the course of the day, but generally lack the artistic ability to make something like this happen. Which is why I had the forethought to live with a talented visual artist and graphic designer. All I had to do was utter the idea, and Eileen said, "that's easy - should take an hour or so" - and off we went, designing, copyediting, resizing, printing, cutting, pasting and taping the thing into submission, and at the end of the hour (or so), I had an awesome costume.

Eileen's great, creative and freelancing, so send work her way.
Here are more pictures of the project in its various stages of development.

Lindsay Lohan Considering Judaism?

The Daily Mail brings us the latest news about Lindsay Lohan, who is rumored to be considering conversion to Judaism. In case you've been living under a rock, the reason for Lindsay's religious shift is not a driving desire to celebrate the upcoming holiday of Purim but because Lindsay's girlfriend Samantha Ronson is Jewish.

The occasion for the latest frenzy over Lohan's religious affiliation was that she attended Ronson's half-brother's bar mitzvah at a Westminster synagogue:

Showing her seriousness about converting, Lindsay had also visited the synagogue the day before with Samantha and her designer sister Charlotte. Entering the synagogue, a photographer asked Lindsay if she was switching religions, to which she replied: 'I'm trying.' Updating her Facebook status this week, Lindsay wrote 'I'm converting'.

Many commenters on a similar story on Haaretz doubt Lohan's commitment to the religion, and Lindsay's own dad thinks it's another phase of religious exploration, noting that she's already plowed through Kabbalah and Scientology. "But either way, she's involving God in her life, and I'm happy about that," he said.

Besides, we all know that Facebook status updates need to be taken seriously. If I ever convert to another religion, I promise to let you all know about it via Facebook.

Scrabulous: G-O-N-E but not F-O-R-G-O-T-T-E-N

In the aftermath of the demise of Scrabulous--the Scrabble-style application for Facebook that was recently yanked for copyright infringement--there's a lot of finger-pointing by angry fans feeling the loss in their fingertips. Facebook has said they're just an impartial third-party, but CNET has a different perspective: that Facebook has actually long-policed the applications for various reasons, and made a decision to leave Scrabulous alone:

Scrabulous was a Facebook favorite. Founder Mark Zuckerberg professed to being an active user, and company insiders spoke highly of the game. There was good reason for it: Scrabulous was a brainy game devoid of zombies and vampires, it was created by small-time developers rather than an "app factory," its roots in a classic board game gave it cross-generational appeal, and it was addictive enough to keep Facebook users glued to the site.

It was also extremely popular. If Facebook had pulled Scrabulous on its own, the PR ramifications could've been just as bad as getting ensnared in a legal tiff. Claiming to be "neutral," however dubious a claim, was a very calculated response on Facebook's part.

In an article about the new look of Facebook, Charged notes that one of the site's improvements is something called "Great Apps," which "will recommend popular applications which are known to be reliable and attractive."

But none of this changes the fact that Scrabulous is gone. And adjustment to the post-Scrab era is R-O-U-G-H, as this new piece (written by yours truly) at Pajamas Media notes. How are you adjusting? Comment here, or there, or anywhere.

President's Conference Update/Rumor Mill-Updated

So, here's what I heard...

There was supposed to be this "crowned heads of internet" type panel at the President's Conference, featuring Sergey Brin from Google, Sue Decker from Yahoo and Mark Zuckerberg (not Zuckerman, as many of the press releases indicated) from Facebook. Note my use of the term "supposed to be." Rumor has it that Zuckerberg has canceled and will not appear. Speculation is that he's a little uncomfortable with my "Weekly Zuckerberg" category. Or perhaps this is a reflection of the recent migration of several of Google's top people to Facebook? Or more likely, that he's really just too busy. Although I don't see why Sergey can't just pick him up in his private jet on the way east. (UPDATED MAY 7: This release lists Brin and Decker, but not Zuckerberg, so I guess it's official.)

So to recap: Zuckerberg out. But Voight in. Angelina's dad, actor Jon Voight,  is coming to Israel to attend the conference and to pay a solidarity visit to the city of Sderot, as well as welcome Chabad’s Children of Chernobyl’s (CCOC) 80th rescue mission airlifting children from irradiated regions in Ukraine, Belarus and Western Russia.

Seinfeld fans remember the episode about Jon Voight's car...here's Voight on the episode:

Engaged for a Day: The April Fool's Facebook Experiment

Did you ever wonder how much technology was taking over your life, and if your online persona was capable of doing things that your offline persona would never do? The one-step-removed aspect of online interaction is one that I find endlessly fascinating, as is the culture of Facebook, which allows people to follow my moves with as much information as I give them (and as much time/inclination as they have to do so).

I've mused before about the numbers of "friends" we all have on Facebook. The likelihood that most of them are actually friends of the sort you'd invite to your birthday dinner or to seder with the family is very low. I mean, people have hundreds of them. I tried to keep my list down, but it was fruitless. Even the restriction of "only accept friend requests from people you know in real life" doesn't help: I meet 120 people each summer. I went on tour with Coolooloosh and Subliminal/the TACT Family. I go to conferences with hundreds or thousands of people in attendance. I live on the Upper West Side. I think I just met five new "friends" while writing this post drinking my coffee in my apartment. Keeping my magic number down is not an option. And I realize that's a blessing.

But the question remains. How much do those people really know me? And how finely tuned in to my status update are they? If I suddenly became the opposite of my public persona, on April 1, no less, would people realize it was a joke, or assume that because they read it online it must be true? Or would people think it was a technical error? Or am I just suffering from blazing egomania in even thinking that people stay tuned to as silly a mechanism as the status feed?

Facebook Fools' Day Experiment: Change "Relationship Status" from "Single" to "Engaged"

Duration: 18 hours: 12:30am-6:30pm April 1

Findings: 35 respondents=15 email messages, 20 wall posts in a 18-hour period. About 70% of responses understood that the status change was a joke. About 25% of responses wished me mazal tov and wanted to know who the lucky guy was or why they were first hearing about this now. And 5% were threatened marriage proposals. From guys who are already in relationships. (Just to give you an idea of what's out there.) Most of my regular posse of New Yorkers knew better than to even respond. Or maybe they're too busy.

Analysis/Conclusions: I was expecting a few people to fall for it, and for most to understand that it was a joke because it was April 1. That my expectations were met proves that people (even my non dinner party friends) actually know me a bit better than perhaps I might have thought. I did think that someone might think it was a technical glitch, like when the JDate site redesign reset all women's profiles to read "I do not plan on having any children."

It did teach me that with over a thousand friends, I can't stay in close contact with all of them, and as a consequence, so much of the public perception of me is based on the information I share online. That's a power I need to continue to wield responsibly and accurately.

Still, some people need to get out more.

I have to admit that being engaged for a day was pretty fun--I'd like to do it for real someday, maybe with someone else to share the joy with.

Other resources: today's Urban Dictionary definition.

Any great April Fool's jokes to share? If you fell for it, admit it here and feel all better. (UPDATED: Here's one I fell for. Those darned Googlers are so funny...)

Zuckerberg=Paris Hilton? To Blame for SXSW Interview?

Although most people are blaming journalist Sarah Lacy for the interview with Zuckerberg at SXSWi this week, ZDNet's Steve O'Hear says he blames Mr. Facebook himself--as well as the instant commentary of Twitter--for how wrong it went:

[...] Lacy might have done a better job. But Zuckerberg’s relentless attempts to stay on message and lack of charisma (on stage at least) is ultimately what killed it for me. However, I think another factor in the keynote’s downfall was the use of Twitter as a so-called ‘back channel’. With keynote attendees able to share live commentary instantly, a negative response can spread like wildfire in a profound way that is very different to what’s possible without such connectivity.

Chantelle Oliver at The Walrus (Canada's Magazine of the Year) reads into the event as an anti-feminist "Punk'd"-style stunt, comparing Zuckerberg to Paris Hilton, who recently punk'd the paparazzi with help from Ashton Kutcher:

[Lacy] had been punk’d by the newest would-be reality show: Cewebrity Priapus. Zuckerberg played the part of Paris Hilton and the audience was his shaman. Like Ashton poking fun at the paparazzi, Cewebrity’s producers are poking fun at the idea a woman journalist ought dare to question a cewebrity. Spurred into action by the recent reports of the feminization of the Internet the show actively defends the genitalia of founding fathers of social networking and their lemming sons.

Lacy is one of the only women reporting on tech, and seems pretty nonplussed in the afterwards of it all, talking about how it went.

Keynote Address Gone Mad: Zuckerberg at SXSW

On any given day there are any given number of reasons that it's good to be Mark Zuckerberg. The Facebook king has enough cabbage to not worry about rent for a while, employees who like their jobs, a company that is only increasing in use despite any glitches or unwise decisions (hello, Beacon?), and a cool sister profiled in the pages of PresenTense Magazine. Plus, Zuckerberg had the plum keynote slot of the year (yes, even surpassing my role at the GA) at SXSW.

But at today's keynote, something went horribly wrong, at least as far as SXSW was concerned. Apparently, the packed room "turned" on the interviewee, but especially on his interviewtrix, journalistrix (I just like the suffix and will begin using it regularly) Sarah Lacy, turning a tame interview into a raucous group of rabble-rousers. (Report is from Wired.)

"Talk about something interesting," one attendee yelled about half way through the keynote. The remark was met with waves of cheering and applause. Meanwhile, members of the audience participated in a backchannel discussion on Twitter, with users of the microblogging site directing most of their animosity at Lacy's unorthodox interview technique. "Never, ever have I seen such a train wreck of an interview," said Jason Pontin on Twitter. "Poor girl, flirtatiously awful tho' she was."

Crunchgear live-blogged the whole thing, also noting the interviewer's flirtatious behavior, and objecting minute-by-chronicled-minute. In this series, Z=Zuckerberg and "chick"=Lacy:

2:10. Facebook and terrorism. Lots of users in Lebanon. Z just said that terrorism is caused by lack of communication and empathy. So… Facebook will also end terrorism. Aren’t journalists supposed to question things and not take them at face value? I don’t know, I’m crazy.

2:53. Holy shit! OK, this is the highlight. Chick asks some rambling nonsense question. Z gives her the wtf are you talking about look. She says, another leslie stahl moment. Then Z says, you have to ask questions. Crowd goes wild like the rock just walked in. Dudes stand up, applaud Z’s calling her out on being a dunce.

Mediabistro chimes in by somehow snagging a few minutes with the Facebook founder and asking for his response, which he provides, and then challenging him to accept their invitation to Mediabistro Circus, another seemingly awesome tech/media conference that few freelancer/bloggers will be able to afford.

And so concludes the Weekly Zuckerberg. Unless any of you have first-person reactions from the floor at SXSW?

Facebook Stalking, Set to Music

Enrique Iglesias's music, to be specific..."I can be your Facebook stalker..."

Hat tip: Frum Satire

This Week, in Zuckerberg

Every year, as I become more and more geeky, my wish to go to South By Southwest (or as it's called, SXSW) increases. This annual tripartite nerdfest (resting on the pillars of music, film and interactive) now features a keynote address by Marc Zuckerberg. As well it should..,

This article by a Georgetown alumnus (who wrote his senior thesis about using Facebook  to analyze cross-cultural Web sites) assesses Facebook's impact on the average college student and reveals an interesting theory about the social value of the website: "At the time, I didn’t think much of the “stalking” side of Facebook, but years later, it would become clear to me: Sex leads to money, and money leads to fame, and fame leads to Mark Zuckerberg." Interesting theory. And then, as a bonus, we get an interesting Zuckerberg factoid; according to the author, when Zuckerberg first arrived in Palo Alto, Calif., years ago to "harvest Facebook," he carried a business card that read, “I’m C.E.O. … bitch.” I did not know that.

A shoutout to Mark Zuckerberg: Dude, as you read this, I'm winging my way to Seattle and bringing some Israeli hip-hop to the west coast. If you want, I'll comp you, especially since we are relying on Facebook to spread much of the information about the tour. But you have to tell me. Email me and we'll talk--we've got shows in SF and Berkeley to choose from, and of course, you're welcome in Vegas for the closing night or any point in between! Hope to see you (and everyone else) there.

The Fate of Scrabulous Hangs in the Balance

Scrabulous isn't your parents' Scrabble. For one thing, it exists only in Facebook. And secondly, each turn can take seconds or days. But now this beloved application -- it has about 600,000 daily users -- is in danger from big business, as Hasbro and Mattel move to shut down the application.

Mashable reports:

As several others have noted, Mattel and Hasbro ought to just buy the application and enjoy having more engaged consumers. Combined, the two companies (who split the Scrabble trademark) have a market value of nearly $10 billion – they could probably acquire Scrabulous for less than they’re about to spend in legal fees to protect their trademark.

In any event, users are flocking to a Facebook group called “Save Scrabulous” to protest a shutdown. 

Power to the people. Especially if "P O W E R" falls on a red square.