How is it possible that I have never stumbled upon this ridiculously awesome website before?! The Take-Away Shows are video podcasts of artists or a band that have been invited to perform on the street, a bar, elevator, subway, etc... Since 2006, founders Chryde and Vincent Moon were seeking a new way to share and film music. Currently, with other directors globally joining forces on this project they are planning for a world wide expansion. 

This type of project is exactly what makes the internet so brilliant. The footage is raw, real, candid and no editing is involved -- one take. The clip that I posted above is of the one and only Tom Jones, performing We Got Love in his hotel room. This is truly a moment...a moment of many moments on this site. Check out the footage of Bloc Party performing out front of a pub too. 

What a ridiculous library of exclusive live music performances this will become one of these days...one I'm sure the founders will retire on.  

CBS, the owners of TV.com who are currently in a content battle with HULU have recently upped their stake to grab more eyeballs by syndicating their content to iPhone users. Via their new TV.com iPhone application (not available in Canada), they are offering access to a library of content from the CBS network of properties (The CW, Showcase, CNET TV, etc...). 

Full episodes of mainstream network content ranging from Star Trek to C.S.I. can be accessed to users but apparently a lot of shows still aren't available in their entirety, but hopefully that will change over time. Regardless, this is a great first set and will no doubt put pressure on the others content players to follow suit, so bravo to CBS for taking the first step! Now what about us up here in the north?? CBC, CTV, CanWest?? 

Oh and I almost forgot...screw you HULU!  [via NYTimes]

Hulu has decided to pull content from BoxeeTV??! It seems to me that Hulu's content providers got really high on bad shrooms, got paranoid, and decided it's not a good idea to have their shows streamed to your TV through Boxee. A blog posting on the Hulu's website explains in more detail about the decision. CEO Jason Kilar says "While we stubbornly believe in this brave new world of media convergence -- bumps and all -- we are also steadfast in our belief that the best way to achieve our ambitious, never-ending mission of making media easier for users is to work hand in hand with content owners." I applaud their sincerity and understand this can't be fun for him right now.

It really saddens me to think that the media players who can make a difference are choosing to hinder progress and continue to make the same old mistakes. Boxee was a move in the right direction. Do they fear that Boxee will replace cable? Whether its Boxee or another application, internet television will be an option. So why fight progress when they could be benefiting from the initiative of companies like Boxee. Did they not learn from the mistakes of the music industry and a little application called Napster? Well, Apple did and created something called iTunes. 

New Next Networks is a web company that merges the elements of TV programming and internet philosophy to create what they refer to as micro-television networks for targeted audiences on the web. Their latest project is called $99 music video, aimed at music audiences, the formula is simple, one part indie musician, one part hungry filmmaker, one day to shoot, one day to edit, and $99...voila, art! In addition to the video they capture all the behind-the-scenes footage as well. I'm looking forward to see the results! [via Mashable] 

I was sitting around reminiscing about the infant days of the web. Remember the days before Google came and changed the game forever. Does Excite ring a bell? Maybe you were all about Alta Vista, InfoSeek, WebCrawler, or Lycos....ah yah, Lycos...I was a Lycos guy myself! So I decided to check out Lycos.com and was pleasantly surprised that it was still up and running. Not only was it up and running but I noticed a section called Lycos Cinema, a movie sharing experience, or as their tagline reads "Bringing people together...One flick at a time."

It's an interesting concept. The idea is that you can invite up to 10 of your friends to join you as you watch a movie online. It allows you to chat along side the movie in a clean and intuitive interface. If you feel like meeting new folks you can always join an existing party in the "Social Scene" section and share the experience with others on the network. 

There are plenty of pay and free movies, although many of the titles are either older classics, or aren't very recognizable at all...have you heard of Brainiac, Baron Blood, Elephants Dream, or Affair in T'Sien Cha? They do however some obscure documentaries such as Burning Man: Beyond Black Rock, A Tribute to Sam Kinison, and an absurdly large collection of National Lampoon titles.

Barack Obama's memoirs called "Dreams from My Father" was published in 1995 and then re-released in 2004. Turns out there is an audio version of the book read by the President himself. Nothing too interesting there, however there is a part of the reading where he quotes from his former classmate Ray. Ray apparently liked to swear alot...so if you want to hear the President say things like "This shit's getting way too complicated for me", or "That guy ain't shit. Sorry ass motherf*#ker", then click here. This should sell some copies of the audio book, no doubt.

Note: NSFW