#NerdsUnite: A tale of two Tristans (cc: @TristanCouvares)

And now a word from @JenFriel: SOOOO!!! my buddy @jennhoffman and I have a lot of weird and random mutual friends. It kinda blows my mind actually how many people she and I know without having met each other IRL (we met in twitterverse earlier this year).

One day over the summer, I got @replied in the same tweet with her as the one, the only @tristancouvares.

Now, Tristan and I have some history. Last year we had an epic, epic, epic, fight on Control TV.

Control TV was a project where the internet basically got to dictate the choices of one dude who was going to lifecast his entire everything for 6 weeks. From what he ate, to what he wore - the viewers were in control. Get it? Get it? See what I did there??

It was run by the dude that did the Bachelor and Seth Green.

I got involved with them through one of my oldest and dearest friends in LA who happened to be working as an assistant. She was on a few of my old shows on LiveVideo - and knew the lifecasting/ livestreaming shit was right up my alley.

I then met with the producers on Skype, and a few days later was asked to come down to the loft and kick it on a date with Tristan.

Sure, not a problem - this will be fun, I thought.

Dudes, have you seen Tristan? The motherfucker is damn near GORGEOUS! Like for reals, period end of sentence. An alarmingly attractive individual.

I got to the loft on a Sunday and met with Tristan and at the time two of his other friends who were over watching sports.

Was pretty cool, they were into it - and oddly enough Tristan is also from Connecticut, AND we're the same age - so he and I knew a shit ton of the same random weird people. Crazy crazy crazy small world we live in.

Then, because my brain is so wrapped up in lifecasting, I started asking questions about twitter, and about the general functionalities of the production.

Tristan then bursted out with - I don't really get twitter. They have me Skype and all, but I just don't see the value in twitter. Who cares about what people have for breakfast?

I'm paraphrasing of course, so pardon moi - but I'm sure you can find the archives of our argument.

The SECOND he said that - I went OOOOOFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. At the time, I had very literally been living off of social media. Morning, noon and night - food, water, clothing, shelter - EVERYTHING!!!!!!

I then got super ballsy and started saying - to everyone watching this right now, here is my twitter handle "at jen friel" @reply me right now and I will tweet you back because Tristan won't!

The tweets then came in - and I was like see! See! See!!!! All up in his face.

The argument then got pretty heated, with his friends getting his back (and rightfully so).

Needless to say, I left shortly later, and it wasn't good. Tristan got PISSSSSEEEEEEDDDD thinking that I personally attacked him - when it wasn't my intention, I was very genuinely just trying to explain to him the value add, but in my passion I got very heated and might have overstepped a few boundaries.

For that, I apologize.

What I won't apologize for though are things Tristan can't control. Very honestly a dude should not have been cast in that role. This is not a personal attack on him, and more of what works in the space - you need a chick, man. Chicks DOMMINNNNAAATTEEEEEE in the online livestreaming world. DOMINATE!!! Anytime the chicks went live on LV we had over 3 times the viewers without even trying. Guys AND girls want to stare at pretty girls, why do you think female models make so much more than dude models? This is like life 101.

So whatever - all this shit happened, I couldn't stop talking about it, because it is my passion - and he got SUPER pissed at me.

He kept saying over and over - you're spewing hate!! You're spewing hate!! I ban all things TNTML!!!

Mothafucka, I hate no one. Do you really think I am going to change my entire life fundamental core to make an exception for you? You're not special Tristan, only awesome.

My point here is that ALLLLLLLL of this happened last year, and even as recently as last Tuesday things were still, let's say - fresh.

EEP!! That's no bueno!!!

And now a word from @JennHoffman: So funny how people can meet the same person and have a totally different view about a human being. I see Tristan as a sweet adorable little lamb. Actually a sweet adorable and very EMO little lamb.  

 

#EMOLAMB Tweet ...

Sometimes I joke with Tristan and call him a douchebag. Evidence of said douche-baggery can be evidenced here. ROXBURY????

But overall my experience with him as a friend (or potential loveeeeeerrrrrrr) was very different than Friel’s tragic Tristan encounter. Although T and I do engage in some sarcastic and pseudo-aggressive banter, it’s always in good fun. I can’t really imagine fighting my little emo lamb and I actually enjoy all things Tristan. When we’ve hung out we’ve had total crazy fun and also have had some serious great conversations too.

Here is some silliness ...

So let’s say you two bury the hatchet and we all get on the same team again. I want to facilitate peace, love and eradicate any haters from the path of TNTML. Douches and #NerdsUnite!

What do you say Tristan? Can we totes be besties?

#love

@JenFriel & @JennHoffman

#TNTML heads back to #ControlTV

Word to the bird jellyfish!!!

I just got invited to a charity event for ControlTV tonight!!!

*Waves* hi @tristancouvares

I'm pretty stoked!!! I've been to the bar that they're hosting it at a bajillion trillion times, so I know I can get reception - so feel free to tweet my butt, and I'll say hi: @JenFriel

The feed will be live on ControlTV: www.ControlTV.com

For reals, I know Tristan got a little miffed in the piffed about all my nerdy talk that one fateful Sunday, but I just dig what I do. It's nothing personal to him, but just a reflection of the medium as a whole. Hard to understand ... I get it, I get it.

OH! And I'm totally taking the OkCupid dude as my date. I'm pretty stoked, he's really hot - and wrote a super super super nice blog post about me.

Dude, he's drinking a beer in his default on OKC ... we're already BFFs!! HAHA!! And no worries, I'm still totally crushing on that other nerderino. He's just recovering from surgery ... you know how it goes. Spent a lot of time with him over the weekend, but this space right now is poppin off! I am one busy little nerd.

Either way, looking forward to seeing some familiar twitter handles tonight! YAY!! =)

#NerdsUnite

4 tips for #ControlTV

Alrite, so I've spent a big chunk of the last few hours intermittently watching ControlTV. I was on it recently, but that's neither here nor there ... these people are the closest ones to what I ultimately want to do, so you have to understand my interest has been peaked.

Please note, this is not at all a personal attack. I'm Buddhist, totally not my style. But I literally live every.single.day. in this medium and literally place my life on the line every day for it by bartering social media to live. This is my passion, and something I CRAZY STUPID believe in!!! On that note ...

You're doing it wrong.

I know in life, there are no rights and wrongs blah blah blah ... but if you guys can make this work, it will make my own life a lot easier, so please know, there are ulterior motives here. Tristan is a great dude ... he's from Connecticut, good looking, whatevs, but could not be any more wrong for this type of environment.

I kid you not, when I say LITERALLY every person that I know that saw me on ControlTV, or has since tuned in when I asked them to ... has said the same thing, why is this guy so douchey?

And that's the thing ... he's a great kid, again, this is NOT a personal attack ... but rather an observation of the medium as a whole. He comes off as WAYYYYYYYYY too cocky. And not like even in a funny way. Like in a way that makes me just want to turn off.

I totally made some of the same mistakes in my old liveshow back on LiveVideo (brought to you by one of the founders of Myspace) back in 2007. I get it. It's a weird scenario to be placed in ... but please for the love of all things holy, I didn't give up everything I owned and start to barter everything in my life to have something like this mess it up!!!

Here are some tips:

1. You HAVEEEE to come from a place of constant gratitude.

For reals, this is the internet, we make you. We know we make you. And we want to own that. So let us!!! THANK US!!! And not in a douchey condescending manner. We can tell when you're faking it.

2. Don't call us fans.

Zuckerberg swapped out fan pages for like pages for a reason. We are now conditioned to classify people as "friends" online. We don't want to be your fan, we want to be your friend. Be a part of this journey with us. Don't place yourself on a higher platform than you deserve. Again, gratitude should be your only attitude!

3. Stop talking about your experience being filmed and livestreaming. It's annoying.

We want to be brought along into your life, not have this seperation of being constantly reminded that the person we are watching knows we are watching him. We are voyeurs. Let us peek, but don't run out and say ... I SEEEE YOOUUUUUU!!! That's just weird.

4. INTERACT INTERACT INTERACT!!!

Talk to us like we're your best friend!!! Dude, I can't write for shit. But I can communicate very well. Big difference. All the writers on this site write like they are talking to their best friend. We're not journalists, just a bunch of nerdy peeps documenting things in life that matter to us. We want to talk to you, but not as Tristan this mighty mighty being ... just like Tristan, my friend on the other end of the screen.

I love these people. I LOVEEE this concept. I have LITERALLY devoted my life to lifecasting ... but man, you are fucking it up so badly, its literally heart breaking. For reals ... right now ... my heart = breaking.

*insert sad face*

Again, this is NOT about me, about this website ... whatevs. This is just something I REALLLYYY believe in, and I am consistently striving to find the path of least resistence. If you fuck this up, it'll make it more difficult for me in the future. So yeah, there ya go. And yeah ... love you, but please figure your shit out.

#sweetkisses

Click here to watch #ControlTV for yourself.

#ControlTV: Mike Responds

Wow, so this morning I got an email from Mike, aka the guy sitting next to me on the couch from the #controlTV loft the other day. Looky looky!!!

Just incase the print is too small for your nerdy little eyes ... it says, AND I QUOTE!!!

Subject: turn a new leaf
Message: So, I wanted to say, I think we had a good chat on Sunday, despite the fact that  I was distracted for 90% of it due to the Jets game being on TV.

While I knew about social media before talking to you and the potential for social media to explode(and I am sure that it will/ is now) I just hadn't made it a part of my life.

Part of my argument was "just for show", I agree with most of the stuff you were saying and I see the huge benefits of that medium to connect people worldwide!. By arguing against it, devil's advocate, I learned a lot more than I otherwise would have.
While I don't use twitter often, I really want to get into starting my own business, and seeing what you did, and the potential to meet new people who have similar interests that live locally (and globally) is the part that really gets me hooked.
I am not hiding the fact that I am jealous of your business thus far, it made me realize that I need to get on board.

I know some people who would be interested to check out your site and I'll definitely recommend them to it!

Talk to you later
Mike Townsend

First off, wow, bless your heart - thank you for this email. Took a lot of balls to come play in my court. HA! =) Again, I wasn't there to knock anyone about not "getting" social media. It is just my passion, and I can't help it. There are only 9 different types of people in this world, I am the person that "stirs the pot." I just enjoy educating people on what the nerds are currently doing, and just how FAAARRRRRRRRRRRR this is going to take everything. I mean dude, TV as you know it? DONE-ZO!!! So what does that mean? Why has so much changed? I won't bore you with all of it right now, but the recession is a BIGG part of this all. It is just the greatest time to be alive. The greatest time to be young, and the greatest time to take a risk. I will happily sit down with you anytime to tell you more about social media. We can even tweet, skype, and Ustream it. But we'll have to use the Ustream on my phone since yours doesn't have internet. HA!

Much love, Mike. Appreciate the email.

See, even non-nerds are uniting ... we've just got every based covered round these parts! W00t! W00t!

#NerdsUnite

and click here to read Nerdy Thoughts to Tristan

#ControlTV: Nerdy Thoughts for @tristancouvares

Oh good lord, so a weird side effect of running your own site and constantly posting your thoughts all day, is that when you step away - you still speak the truth.

I was just on the unofficial Control TV podcast. It was their first episode, pretty cool ... but @tristancouvares isn't very pleased.

First off, this is why 25 year old men and 25 year old women are entirely different creatures. I said absolutely nothing hateful. I am a nerdy hippie with Love and an enso tattooed on my wrist. Hate is not in my vocab or my heart.

Furthermore, I stand by EVERY BIT of EVERYTHING that I said. I'm being honest! Deal with it! Tristan, RIGHT NOW you have this INCREDDIBBLLEEE opportunity to connect with thousands, and hopefully in the near future MILLIONS of people ... and I just felt sitting there that you had this entitlement attitude towards you. When I asked what value you added to twitter to get people to follow you, you said, what do you mean value? I add value? (paraphrasing, of course) - as if one is to believe just by you being, you are adding value. WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. WRONG.

Given, yes, I know what you are doing is weird - I was totally freaked out by it in 2007, and dude, I totally made some of the same mistakes. However, the only difference is I am female. We dominate the livestreaming world, through and through. People are more likely to forgive you for being a bit of an elitiest because it is such a male dominated world, they kinda dont want you to be mad at you as you may be their last female friend. I know, totally sucks ... total double standard. Get over it. Working for LiveVideo changed my life. I couldn't even wrap my BRAIN around how many people I was able to connect with. The troops in Iraq used to play my show - and it literally brought me to tears. Here I was this 23 year old with a macbook pro sitting in my apartment, hanging out with the men fighting for our country. Yeah ... super heavy.

Be thankful for EVERY.SINGLE.VIEWER. you get. I know you were cast into that position, so I certainly think it does come out differently being placed in a scenario versus creating one ... but I just think you have SUCH an incredible opportunity right now in front of you. You may not believe in social media like I do, and that's cool man, it gives me a bigger platform!! Totally not going to hate. But at least open your mind a bit more, that's all I'm asking. This has more to do than having people pick what you eat, or what pet you have ... its all bullshit at the end of the day. You won't remember what they told you to do ... but some of the tweets you'll get and the people that watch you will follow you FOREVER.

I have been living for the last 7 months because of these people. Food, water, clothing, all because of social media. Think that has value now?

#NerdsUnite

PS. Here's a throwback to all the LV fans out there!!! =)