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Things My Roommates Like II

As we did last time, I invite you to join in as I learn from the only focus group that I will ever fully trust: my 3 twentysomething roommates.

The Louis CK Digital Special

Going firmly against the industry grain and the desperate pleas of network executives, comedian Louis C.K. decided to self-release his latest one-hour special Louis CK: Live At The Beacon Theatre exclusively through his own website for $5.00 a pop. The decision to circumvent traditional distribution stemmed from C.K.’s desire to make his material more accessible to loyal fans.

The best part? It worked. In fact, he cleared over a million dollars in just 2 weeks. Two of the four people in my apartment ponied up - one of the few online purchases we’ve made over the past year. Lesson learned? If the product is right, people have never been more willing to spend and consume online - even if they know how to get it for free elsewhere.

Roommate Rating: 4 Cynical Gingers out of 5

The new Loblaws

Cheese wheels, sushi, and butchers – oh my! It takes a lot to get young people excited about groceries, but the two brand new & beautifully designed Loblaws here in T.O. have captured our culinary imaginations.

Sure, the massive inventory and low prices were the initial draw, but it was the modish design and slick in-store experience that got us all giddy. Loblaws has nailed the “urban supermarket” feel and even made efforts to preserve the heritage of its iconic Maple Leaf Gardens location. This is shopper marketing done right.

Roommate Rating: 5 Pork Tenderloin Roasts out of 5

YouTube Channels

Here in quazi-space-age 2012, people are rarely watching the same thing. Aside from flagship live events like the Oscars or the Superbowl, we’re usually busy recording/streaming/downloading programs at our individual leisure. The collective viewing experience seems to be dying.

But never fear – questions such as, “have you seen the newest episode?” can still be overheard in my kitchen, as we become increasingly loyal to webisodes and YouTube channels. Take for example the massively popular “Sh*t Girls Say” series (except do yourself a favour and skip episode #3), which we’ve been watching since the pilot episode came out a couple months ago and now eagerly await new installments. We’re loyally consuming it like old-fashioned TV.

How retro.

Roommate Rating: 3 Users Comments out of 5

Learning about politics

No, seriously – even the Canadian kind. After making the collective decision to become more informed about current events, it recently came to our attention that there’s a whole flock of turd clowns out there in government land. We subsequently decided that this whole “who should run our country” thing deserved further attention.

Why the sudden interest? Because it’s never been easier to learn. Seeing as the current leaders of our nation do diddly squat (see: nada, zero, zilch, NOTHING) to reach out to young voters, it’s been incredibly easy to avoid – nay, miss - the whole Canadian politics thing. But in today’s age of instant Googling & broadband YouTubing, we can now inform ourselves with ease (seeing as nobody else will).

We watched video clips of the PM’s latest sit-down with that old dude from The National; we visited Wikipedia to figure out what the hell it means to become President of the Liberal Party. We’re slowly starting to understand the political landscape of our country using our native devices of communication & learning.

When the next election comes, there will be a massive group of young, eligible voters that have grown up online. I desperately hope that our candidates meet them there. Even the extremely conservative GOP candidates south of the border are holding online debates, partnering up with the likes of Facebook to reach a younger audience. And while American politics will always out-sex us from an entertainment perspective, I can definitely foresee young Canadians getting into the “Yes we can” spirit should the candidates play their digital cards correctly.

And if they don’t, I guess we’ll just have to stay contempt with another 61% turnout rate.

Roommate Rating: 3 Uninformed Voters out of 5

@BrookJohnston

Things My Roommates Like II

The Louis CK Digital Special

The new Loblaws

YouTube Channels

Learning about politics

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