Goodbye a/s/l, Hello Chatroulette

Gone are the days of mystery and deceit. Gone are the days in which you could think that you were having an hour long conversation with a cute 22-year-old Swedish boy, only to realize that you had in fact been talking with a 64-year-old woman from West Virginia. That's right, the increasingly popular website Chatroulette allows you to see who you are talking with now. Without a doubt, it can get kind of addicting. You could meet a bunch of people and costumed characters. But, on the other hand, you'll likely come across guys (and girls) who have nothing better to do with their time than masturbate in front of the camera. But, you can always just "next" them. All you need is a web cam and an internet connection. Here's a video that describes the general Chatroulette experience, as well as the basic ins-and-outs:

Needless to say, while Chatroulette has around for months, it has recently gotten some news outlets in a tizzy--Jon Stewart addressed this overreaction in a segment a few weeks back:

Clearly there are some things to be aware of but just go ahead and explore Chatroulette ! Maybe you'll even do something memorable, and make new friends! However, before you start, you at least need to know that the bar has already been set very high for originality--check out the following video, For example, this is an awesome video of  Merton, who freestyles memorable piano improv tunes on Chatroulette:

Many people have said that Merton looks/plays/acts a bit like Ben Folds. Well, he's not, but Ben Folds did just recently do a Merton tribute at a concert in North Carolina:

Chat on!