Chance The Rapper drops new visuals for "Same Drugs"
Chance The Rapper turned to Facebook Live to release the premiere music video of “Same Drugs” off of his third mixtape Coloring Book.
“Same Drugs” has Chance in studio filming the first part of his song while being accompanied by a puppet on the piano. The same puppet Chance used for his Magnificent World Coloring Book Tour. Chance walks off mid song and walks off frame. You can view the heartwarming video below.
Same Drugs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be37-T72DNk
Fresh off modeling his new line of “Thank You Obama” clothing line, Chance has many reasons to celebrate.
Chance is currently up for 7 Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, and Best Rap Album. Also headlining many festivals across the globe, Chicago’s own Chance The Rapper seems to be taking the world by storm.
Chance is also set to take the stage to perform at the 2017 Grammy Awards.
We last saw chance helping Coloring Book guest D.R.A.M.when he made his last last to Chicago at The Metro.
[Review] Friended to Death
Do you ever have them nights where you're sitting around, hanging with your boys Ben and Jerry, and question everything in your life? No? Oh yeah, me neither... Anyway, for those of you who may have, perhaps you thought about a lot of things, like "Why aren't any of my friends texting me?" or "Should I order pizza too or is that too extreme?" Maybe you even thought deeper down into a dark place where you grow a curiosity for the hypothetical. In this state, you may have thought about death, but did it ever cross your mind to think about who would be at your funeral? Friended to Death, the latest dark comedy from Sarah Smick and Ian Michaels, tells the tale of a man who goes to extreme lengths via Facebook to find out. While it may not have been the most amazing comedy to be put on the market, I found an appreciation for the lighthearted nature of a topic that could be taken down an extremely serious route.
[youtube id="57ef7HmByog"]
Friended to Death
Director: Sarah Smick
Rating: R
Release Date: May 2, 2014
Michael Harris (Ryan Hansen) is a ticket-crazy Los Angeles parking enforcement officer who is just as obsessed about posting his ticketing adventures on Facebook as he is about administering tickets. What seems like a perfect day for him turns into a downward spiral with unemployment and the loss of a very good friend. However, Michael isn't the kind of guy to do nothing about this. With the help of friend Emile (James Immekus), he creates an alter ego of sorts using Facebook, the one thing he trusts the most in order to gain back the attention of Joel (Zach McGowan), the friend who left him to bite the dust. For a man who seems to be extreme, it only seems appropriate that he would go to the length of faking his own death in order to see who actually cares about him.
If you're looking for a comedy that will keep you laughing out loud to the point where you can't breathe and you regret buying popcorn because now you're choking on that, you probably won't get that out of this. Regardless, it should be kept in mind that that wasn't the goal of this film. It's very tounge-in-cheek, and I appreciate the cheesiness that emulates from it. With a character as ridiculous as Michael, it's not something that is supposed to be taken seriously, and I think it is a nice way of bringing to light a big social media addiction that seems to be rising up around the world.
This was Sarah Smick's first feature length directing gig, and I think that she was able to capture this character's ridiculousness and antiheroism in a way that left you somewhat pitying and relating to him on a level. I think that's a pretty impressive task considering not too many of us would go to the lengths this character did to pretend he is no longer alive. Talking about the cinematography, I think the colors are awesome. It's a very vibrant, cinematic film, and it really does justice to adding to this 94 minute satire. No, you won't see wild angles that have never been done before, but why would that be the point of making this anyway? I really think that the coloring of this contributed to this film in a very refreshing manner.
While I thought that the film was nice in its lighthearted selections, there was a point in the film in which I was kind of twiddling my thumbs because I was almost too annoyed by this guy's antics. It felt like he was going on with this for too long of a portion of the film. If there were to be improvements made, I would hope for a really big curveball that would seem impossible for him to get out of. This isn't to say that I didn't find enjoyment from watching how this all works out for Michael, but I think something needed to save me from my impatience.
Overall, I would definitely say that this film captured the light I was expecting to feel from it. Poking fun at the issues that many people are facing everywhere when it comes to social media and its addictive qualities, I would say it is just a film defending something I really like to rant about. I hope to see more from Sarah Smick and Ian Michaels as they create more movies, and I think they will only get better over time.
[Interview] Sarah Smick and Ian Michaels (Friended to Death)
Friended to Death is a dark comedy that embraces the age old curiosity of who would show up at your funeral if you were to die. Although, this creation from Sarah Smick and Ian Michaels encompasses this question in a whole new light: What if you were to fake your death so you could find out? A story about a man whose reliance on social media might just be a little extreme, the film is light hearted in a sense, regardless of its drive from multiple antiheroes. I was fortunate enough to get to interview Sarah and Ian and find out what it was like for them to work on this feature length film together!
Facebook To Acquire WhatsApp
Most of us can just go ahead and download the WhatsApp app for free, but Mark Zuckerberg instead choose to buy the company for a reported $16 billion. After acquiring Instagram for a $1 billion two years ago, this latest move shows that Facebook is trying to stay at the top of the social network game and be the number one way to connect to people online.
Even though the popular messaging app is being acquired, it will retain its own brand and operate independently just like Instagram. WhatsApp has seen some huge growth with its message volume nearing the global telecom SMS volume, which is incredible for the start-up, which is only 5 years old. The company also has over 450 million users a month, with 70% of those users being online on any given day, and more than 1 million new users registering everyday. With this latest acquisition, it will be interesting to see how messaging services will evolve and its effects on mobile carriers. For more information on the acquisition, head on over to Facebook here.
[Via Facebook]
Facebook Releases New App: Facebook Paper
Back in the day, if you were on the go and wanted to know what was going on in the world, you simply picked up the newspaper. Nowadays, the majority of people simply get their news from a device that is never far from reach: their cell phone. Many go straight to the source, and then there are those that get their news from Facebook; for those of you that do, you might want to check out Facebook Paper.
Facebook has released the new app that makes consuming news easier, not to mention providing a better visual experience. The app lets you receive stories straight from the news sources, as well as what's going on with your friends. The layout and look of Facebook Paper is very sleek with its flip-board panels to go along with full screen videos and photos. If you're a Facebook user, you should check Facebook Paper for yourself. For more info, visit the website here.
[Via Facebook Paper]
Ads In Your Instagram Feed
It was only a matter of time for Facebook to use its $1 billion acquisition of Instagram to generate income by selling ad space. Soon, when you're scrolling through endless amounts of selfies and photos of people's food, you'll also see ads from various brands that you might not follow. I figure there will be some type of uproar from people, but that's just how the internet world works - ad space equals dollar signs for companies. There will be a hide feature, though, which is a way for Instagram to ease users into the beginning of its advertising phase. No word on when we'll see the ads pop up in feeds, so keep snapping away until then.
[Via Time]
Facebook rolling out Graph Search today
The next step in Facebook's evolution will be introduced today as the social network will begin rolling out its new "Graph Search" feature for US-based accounts. Backed by Microsoft's Bing search engine, Graph Search is touted as being a much faster and more intricate search option for the site. Users can, for example, search "Photos of friends from July 2013," then the results will show a grid of the user's friends' photos tagged in July 2013. Search results will also include normal Bing results, giving the social network an actual search engine for users to utilize.
Of course, with such a powerful search engine comes some privacy concerns. As such, users will be reminded to update their privacy settings to ensure everything they want to keep hidden will, in fact, continue to be kept hidden. Graph Search will be rolling out for Facebook's web browsers with a mobile update sure to follow in the near future. However, do you think the new feature will be enough to keep existing Facebook users interested?
[via ABC News]
Facebook bites Twitter's style, plans to implement hashtags
What bugs me more than anything is seeing people using hashtags on Facebook. For those who don't know, hashtag links, most commonly and visibly utilized on Twitter, are a series of metadata tags that grouped together common tweets, posts, etc. Again, for the non-tweeters out there, somebody could write a tweet about the Blackhawks, then add a "#Blackhawks" tag, which is then grouped together with all other tweets that also incorporate "#Blackhawks. The problem with hashtags is that Facebook doesn't incorporate them in their system, so when non-privy people post their statuses with stupid hashtags, they don't really lead to anything, thus making that user look like an idiot.
That's all set to change over the coming weeks, as Facebook is doing their part to not only ensure such users will stop looking technologically uneducated, but also help them keep up in a social media expanse that's constantly growing and evolving. Much like MySpace's new attempt at revolutionizing itself, Facebook has taken one huge step in ensuring they don't get left in the dust. The implementation of Facebook hashtags will also help artists and businesses alike as they finally have access at grouping together their content for individuals with common interests, allowing them to grow their social media presence on Facebook the same way they would on Twitter. Some users have access to functioning hashtags, while others will be included in the updates as Facebook begins their roll-out of wave updates through the next few weeks.
Welcome to #2009, Facebook.
[via Facebook Newsroom]