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The good ol’ days! Couple things of note:

1. Our beating Yale used to be newsreel-worthy; the game was called “the Ivy League climax.” Hard to get on Sportscenter nowadays. (0:06)

2. Tailgates used to be less brews, tees, and jeans, and more tweed and awkward separation of the sexes. (0:07)

3. Is that… Quad? I can’t get a good look, too many people. (0:20)

4. People went to football games: 46,000 of them, enough to actually fill the stadium, which… is not the case today. (0:25)

5. Blimp. (0:29)

6. Famous people came to our games. Let’s get Gov. Chris Christie to come on down! Oh, no? Okay. (0:40)

7. Kids knew how to dress. Haircuts were another story (yeah, flattop, sorry man). (1:17)

8. Just how long has the band worn those awful jackets? (3:14)

Oct 19, 2010

Things that were different in 1955: Princeton football

By Will Saborio
Posted in Nostalgia Also tagged , , , , , , , 2 Comments

You’ll have to pardon my insistence on Chatroulette. I’m just consistently amazed at this… thing, and the interactions it produces. What’s even better is that some people have made such a connection to people they’ve met on Chatroulette that they’ve actually friended each other on Facebook (not to mention posted missed connections about lost opportunities on Craigslist).

source: funpics.classicfun.ws

source: funpics.classicfun.ws

A female student who chose to remain anonymous (we’ll call her Flustered Flo ‘12), told us about her own experiences getting to know some ‘rouletters.

Flo heard about Chatroulette through some friends and thought it was hilarious the first few times she did it.

“I generally don’t tell people who I am or where I am, until I know who they are and where they’re from,” she said. “I’ve only ever told one person that I was from Princeton, and we found out that we knew some people in common. That made me feel safer.”

She’s even Facebook friended two college students she met on the ‘lette and has kept in contact with them through messages.

That’s not to say it was all rosy, though… Because, you know, things get complicated in matters of the heart.

Continue reading…

Mar 2, 2010

The Curious Case of Chatroulette, III: You’re nice! Or, not.

By Will Saborio
Posted in Goings On Also tagged , , , , Leave a comment

So you’re all caught up on the cultural phenomenon that is Chatroulette. And I’ve explained just how Princeton works in the mix. About how people think of Princetonians as these people quite literally locked away in an ivory tower, which is awkward because, do they even make towers made of ivory anymore?

But anyway, you’re meeting all these strange people and you think to yourself, Wouldn’t it be weird if I came across someone I knew? Someone… from Princeton?

“Oh hey ‘that guy’ in precept” — NEXT. “Yikes, girl who was sloshed last night and sang ‘Don’t Stop Believin” at the top of her lungs” — NEXT. “Professor?” — NEXT.

Not so for [REDACTED!] ‘11 and Libby van Beuren ‘11, and Matt de Jonge ‘10. Yes, apparently these three (friends, Chatroulette’ing on separate accounts with no idea the other was doing so) found each other. On the site. When 16,216 users from all around the world were logged on.

From the comfort of Foulke, van Beuren and [REDACTED!] Next’d their way through their first awkward minutes of Chatroulette when…

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Feb 28, 2010

The Curious Case of Chatroulette, II: Don’t I know you?

By Will Saborio
Posted in Goings On Also tagged , , 2 Comments
source: twinfactory.co.uk

source: twinfactory.co.uk

By now you’ve probably heard of Chatroulette, and if not, well, get out from under that rock and let’s have a quick talk.

Chatroulette connects you and random other users of the site through your webcams. You click play and it pairs you up, and once you see the other person, you have the option of “nexting” them to start the process again. You can wave, you can have a conversation, you can yell at the other person – the magic and virtue of the whole thing is that you can press “Next” and chances are the person is gone from your life forever.

Which means you see a lot of weird and creepy stuff on the Chatroulette.  Namely, male genitalia. Lots of them.

Once you get past the gross stuff, though, it really is an Internet phenomenon and just “feels important” for some kind of zeitgeist-y reason. Not to mention it’s amazing to watch your friends develop their Chatroulette skills, from feeling awkward about seeing random people, to chatting with them eventually, to then mustering up the courage to shout or bark at them or just generally be as goofy as possible on the thing.

And doing it from Princeton, well, adds an interesting dimension.

Continue reading…

Feb 26, 2010

The Curious Case of Chatroulette, I: Enter the Roulette

By Will Saborio
Posted in Goings On, Musings Also tagged , , , Leave a comment