No One Man Should Like All That Power

There is this new internet phenomenon ala Mark Zuck's "facemash" hitting the scene. Last night, I felt as though David Fincher himself were directing the scene that was occuring through my Blackberry, iChat and Facebook trifecta of technology. There's this new website called "Like a Little," and this shit is spreading like wildfire.

What is this website? Well, the website itself describes LikeaLittle as "a flirting-facilitator platform", whatever that may mean. It's basically Craig's List Missed Connections gone college. It is a brilliant idea, because it caters perfectly to its audience. What do college kids want? Sex. What do college kids have? Tons of time to waste on social networking websites, and massive amounts of confidence when they can hide behind internet anonymity.

The website requires you to say where on campus or which sleazy frat house (at least I am anticipating this will occur after tonight, the website's first Friday night) you set eyes on some mildly attractive co-ed. They range from the mundane, "saw you in the study lounge and you have gorgeous eyes," the creepy "I want to marry you," and the fucking WERID, "Get over here and I'll stick my field hockey stick in YOU." You have to take some of the postings, of course, with a grain of salt, because it limits nothing except the really profane, meaning that people's bored friends and jealous exes and current swooning sweethearts can post on this as well.

The website is relevant, easy to use, and addicting, all the qualities necessary for an insanely popular and highly successful social networking site. So far, the website has hit a dozen college campuses including BU, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Stanford and Wash U in St. Louis. I don't know if this was an intentional fuck-you-you-got-Facebook-first to the Ivies, but none of them have Likealittle's yet.

There comes a point when we have to wonder-how desperate are we? People are checking this website nearly obsessively to check what it says for a few reasons. One, is to read the ridiculousness that is Likealittle. But the honest reason this website is receiving such popularity is the thrill that just maybe YOU'll be on it.

In traditional faux intellect fashion, this of course relates back to Kanye West. In the "Power" Remix, Kanye declares "we ain't all gon' be American Idols/you could at least grab a camera shoot a viral." This line is such a powerful (no pun intended) declaration because it is such an accurate description of fame in the 21st Century. At this day in age, we are desensitized to fame. Not everyone is going to be Gaga or Lebron or Kim Kardashian, but because of the internet, ANYONE can have some form of fame. Likealittle is a perfect projection of this. Maybe you won't be the hottest chick on campus, but at least some guy in SM299 will notice your bright green eyes.

Like you readers more than a little,

G

808 twisted fantasies

I know I'm not alone when I say that I've been doing my best to follow Kanye's every move recently. Kanye is dropping a weekly free single with everyone from Kid Cudi to not such a kid Curtis Mayfield, and for the most part, they have been AWESOME. Good Fridays have been one of my favorite internet-music-pop culture phenomenons yet. Since we're not quite ready to free weezy, the internet is gracing us with some free yeezy. And needless to say, all this Runaway and Monster action is getting the world beyond excited for the album he is dropping in 20 days and counting.

This album--titled My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy--is going to be amazing. I can say this pretty confidently considering I have heard a pretty large percentage of the songs that are going to be on it. That's the only frustrating thing about the internet releases, is that between leaks and GOOD Fridays, I have heard 7 out of the twelve songs on the album, and I don't even have intense internet hacking skills. Ye keeps saying that the production quality will be leaps and bounds better on the album itself, so I'm looking forward to hearing the real deal, but frankly, I don't think "Lost in the World" ft. Bon Iver could get much better.

Before My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy drops, let's think about how far the Louis Vuitton Don has come since his last album has dropped. He didn't exactly let tay tay finish at the VMA's '09, and somehow got invited to perform and steal the spotlight again this past September, when he introduced the world to "Runaway" and his pink suited pal Pusha T.He went on a twitter rampage so epic it received New York Times Coverage. He stayed kind of off the radar, or at least as off the radar as Kanye can be. He didn't come out with anything on his own for a while, but collaborated with old buddy Jay Z on his Blueprint 3 hit "Run This Town" and "Hate".

808's and Heartbreaks was the album Kanye dropped in November 2008, the first album he had released since his mother passed away. At the time, I could barely tolerate the album, and most critics felt the same way. I remember thinking "Heartless" was catchy, but that was about it. A lot has happened to hip hop since 2008. Mash ups, samples, and genre crossing are now significantly more popular than they were two years ago. Electronic music and hip hop are the new vodka and red bull, and 808's and Heartbreaks is a Four Loko before its time. If 808's dropped after Kid Cudi became extremely popular, or after the rise of Dubstep, or after Raekwon and Justin Bieber collaborated, who knows what peoples' reactions would have been.

One song in particular on 808's I fell in love with on second listen is "Welcome to Heartbreak" ft. Kid Cudi. In this song, we hear the old self conscious Kanye we all fell in love with in The College Dropout days. The opening lines of the song could fit neatly alongside "we all self conscious I'm just the first to admit it." The video, featured below, isn't too shabby either.

Runaway fast as you can,

G