By Drew Grant 4/09 2:04pm

MTV Internet

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@MTVinsights: A Tumblr to Explain Internet Trends to Advertisers, in Terms We’ve Never Heard of

There are many ways young people connect through the Internet, as the Tumblr @MTVinsights can tell you. (Why the “at” sign? Who knows!) Mostly, the web and its coded parlance is the key into a secret world, one in which “hip young millenials” talk to each other, but also develop their “micro voice,” which–according to the MTV research team that runs the Tumblr for partners to  ”see the world through young people’s eyes”–has the benefit of broadcasting on a “ particular ‘dog whistle’ frequency: inaudible to many, a clarion call to some.”

You getting nervous yet? Because it sounds like MTV has the next gen’s (generation’s) number, and is willing to give away trade its trade secrets to market researchers…and in typical “We don’t really know exactly how to use this technology” fashion, they’ve made this information public and free, so that anyone–partners or not!–can use this faux-research data to cater their product to budding hipsters.

So maybe it’s beside the point that half of the information on @MTVInsights is ludicrous. Here are some other things that MTVInsights claim are stuff that young people like these days: Read More

By Drew Grant 2/19 6:55pm

DIY or Die

Goodbye Blue Monday

The Broken Jukebox: Steve Trimboli, Godfather of the DIY Music Scene, Still Saving Goodbye Blue Monday

(All photos courtesy of Steve Trimboli)

If you are lucky enough to be a musician who ends up defining a period of American culture—Bob Dylan, say, or the Ramones, or hell, even Metallica—you gain a certain type of immortality. But the constellation of people who helped you get there—the siblings, the members of the “original” lineup, the manager—usually winds up on the sidelines.

Most overlooked of all in the star-making village are the scene-creators, who treat their venues like tumblers, shaking misfit kids and outcasts over and over, polishing some of them into rock gods worthy of the world’s stage. There are the occasional stars in this New York subset, men like Hilly Kristal of CBGB, Mickey Ruskin of Max’s Kansas City and, of course, Andy Warhol, with his Factory of talent.

For most, however, creating a home base for future stars is often anonymous work—as it has been for Steve Trimboli. He has spent the past 44 years bartending, managing or owning some of the most influential venues in the city’s underground music scene. Places like Be Bop Cafe, Tribeca and Scrap Bar were all legends in their own right, each a community hub for poets, prodigies, punks and others. Read More

By Drew Grant 1/17 1:04pm

Catfishin'

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Catfish Forced to Answer for Manti Te’o Exposé

In case you’ve never used the verb ‘Catfishin’’–either because the concept is too vague, referring both to the idea of lying about your identity on the Internet and to those who sleuth out people who have lied on the Internet, or because you have remained blissfully unaware of the whole Catfish documentary and subsequent TV show–today is the day you join the learning curve.

Because as clunky and undefinable as it is, the term Catfish has now jumped out of its own self-referencing creation and joined the popular lexicon thanks to this  business of Notre Dame footballer Manti Te’o's fake girlfriend. And in an even weirder ourborous, the fake sister of the fake girlfriend reached out to original Catfish victim/MTV Internet sleuth Nev Schulman over the Internet while all of this was going down. Read More

By Drew Grant 11/12/12 2:13pm

television

Get ready to go Catfish'in! (MTV)

Catfish TV Show Undermines Own Concept, NYC College Dating/Surveillance Startup Has Answer

We’re not sure how many of you out there actually saw Catfish, the pseudo/documentary directed by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost of Paranormal Activity 3 and 4 fame. It was a very hyped film in 2010, especially after it received a Sundance buzz-bump that led to Brett Ratner’s company Rogue Pictures acquiring the distribution rights and creating a marketing campaign in the style of The Blair Witch Project, which played up the film’s ambiguous placement on the reality spectrum.

Ostensibly, the film began as a chronicle of “Rel’s little brother Yaniv (‘Nev’), and his relationship with Megan, a girl he met online.” It soon devolves into one of those “too unbelievable to be true” (except they say it is) narratives about the perils of trusting the identity of anyone you meet on the internet. Read More

By Drew Grant 11/02/12 1:41pm

hurricane sandy

snooki

Jersey Shore Stars Are Real Heroes After Sandy … No, Seriously

As the last several day’s headlines have been about the devastation of New Jersey–and more specifically, its shoreline–in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, it was inevitable that some cynics among us would eventually get around to making Jersey Shore jokes. For example, one very funny person tweeted on Wednesday: “Snooki is a lot like Hurricane #Sandy. They’re both heading to The Jersey Shore with intentions to blow everyone within a 50 mile radius.” (You can tell this person is very good and funny on Twitter because he or she got 1,346 retweets from that zinger.) Read More

By Drew Grant 8/30/12 5:49pm

Reality TV

Snooki, before a baby came out of her (Twitter)

Hello, Baby Snooki; Goodbye, Jersey Shore

Now that we’ve had a few days to digest the news that Snooki had a baaaabyyyyy with boyfriend Jionni LaValle, MTV took the opportunity to announce that it is ending Jersey Shore after its sixth season. And like the classy network it is, it had camera crews from her spin-off at the hospital documenting the miracle of life, with her boyfriend filming the whole thing as well, possibly to go on the air at some point.

What did you expect from a network that’s still making money off of Teen Mom and 16 & Pregnant? Read More

By Kim Velsey 7/31/12 1:28pm

Manhattan Transfers

iPad tabloid publisher buys in Brooklyn Heights.

The Daily Publisher Greg Clayman Grabs $1.2 M. Brooklyn Heights Co-op

Despite rumors that NewsCorp’s The Daily has been put “on watch,” it seems that publisher Greg Clayman is feeling optimistic about the future.

(Update: It looks like today wasn’t the best day for Mr. Clayman to close on a million-dollar house. A few hours after publishing, news broke that The Daily is planning to lay off a third of its staff.)

Mr. Clayman and wife Amanda have purchased a townhouse co-op in Brooklyn Heights for $1.16 million, according to city records. Read More