#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

TNTML heads to #ControlTV today!

Control TV's @TristanCouvares I've been doing these little skype nerdy dates with Control TV over the last week, but to be honest, I had no effin clue what it was about. One of my very very very dear friends in LA, Alex, called me and told me she was working on this new web show documenting a lifecaster, and she told me I needed to be on it. If you LV peeps remember, Alex was in a couple of the VERYYYYY early LiveVideo episodes on my channel, PhotoJeNic. It is our mutual friend, Vega that actually gave me that nickname in the first place. HAHAAH!! Dude, the FIRST night we went live on LiveVideo, I remember the producers calling us and telling us to tone it down. We were all dancing around the apartment drinking wine and apparently having TOO good of a time. Brad Greenspan, el nerderino running it, was afraid we'd upset advertisers or something ... which is pretty damn funny if you think about it. Most people just sat there staring at their little screens, and I took my unit to a party. (insert: that's what she said ... OOHHH!!) You guys have to remember, this is back in 2007. My friends were just pretty convinced I was doing porn. NOOOOO ONNEEEE was lifecasting at that point. Let alone using this weird janky prototype technology. I'm still peeling velcro off various things in my car, btw!

EITHER WAY!!! I massively digress ... so, Alex got me on this thing - and I had NO idea there were so many people behind it.

Per Media Week:

Comic actor Seth Green has partnered with the Web video firm Digital Broadcasting Group (DBG) to launch ControlTV, an ambitious new reality series which will allow viewers to make a series of life decisions for a young 20-something man.

The idea behind the series is to marry the Web’s crowd sourcing phenomenon and its interactive capabilities with live entertainment. Starting this October ControlTV will follow its young male subject for six weeks, during which viewers will be encouraged to vote on a myriad of decisions—ranging from what he should eat to who he should date—which the man will then go through with.

Viewers will be able to watch ControlTV live at a yet to be determined Web site, where they can immediately vote to direct the show’s Truman Show-esque subject in real time. According to Rick Kleczkowski, DBG’s COO, viewers will be able to watch the show’s subject roughly 18 hours a day, seven days a week—with the number of audience-voting occasions varying by the day.

In addition, DBG will produce a daily ControlTV Webisode featuring edited highlights from that day’s events, which will be distributed across multiple male-oriented sites represented by DBG. At the conclusion of those daily Webisodes viewers will have another opportunity to vote and influence the show’s subject’s actions during the following day.

Kleczkowski sees those aspects of the show as providing ControlTV with breakout audience potential. “This is innovation at its best in terms of leveraging the digital experience,” he said. “The interactive component is what really hits it out the park here.”

To get ControlTV off the ground, Green (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Austin Powers) has recruited an impressive lineup of production partners, including Matthew Senreich—one of the brains behind Green’s Cartoon Network's series Robot Chicken--Richard Saperstein, former president of Dimension Films, Bachelor and Bachelorette director Ken Fuchs, as well as the commercial director Stephen Kessler.

Meanwhile DBG is handling both distribution and ad sales for ControlTV. Already, the company has lined up Ford Motor Company and Sprint Nextel as sponsors who are set to receive the branded entertainment treatment. For example, during episodes of ControlTV, the show’s subject will be seen driving 2011 Ford Fiesta and using Sprint’s new HTC EVOtm 4G phone.

“There is an opportunity for brands to have extended dialogue with consumers,” said Kleczkowski.

Insane balls. I'm loving it. I'll be there around 2pm PST, so check it out if you're around.

And don't forget to follow Tristan on Twitter!

Super stoked to be hanging out at their loft today, I'm SOOOOOOOO excited to see how they document it, and what their nerd gear looks like. This is the future, man! We've connected all these people, have access into lives like we've never been able to experience before - we now have the money and marketing behind it .... OMG! Greatest time to be alive.

#ThatIsAll