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Way ahead of its time: The Remote Lounge NYC (2013)

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Re: Way ahead of its time: The Remote Lounge NYC (2013)

#61

Post by chuan_l »

confoundcofound wrote: post #9

Is there any way back (forward) to this sort of tech innocence?

I think two decades on and with " instagram " and other social media people have lost their innocence if you will call it that. Every image or camera shot is now curated , chosen from multiples and even post - processed at the moment of its inception. I used to wonder many years ago that if you could record all of your life in real time as a film from conception to the end. What that might be like to watch ? Self - image on social media is very much like that , an endless performance to a great invisible crowd ..

Re: Way ahead of its time: The Remote Lounge NYC (2013)

#62

Post by cguess »

ShadowBanThis01 wrote: post #42
kilroy123 wrote: post #7

Very cool. I wish I could have visited. I miss wacky theme bars like this. One of my favorite theme bars was a place in Mexico City called "Bang Bang" (closed down years ago). It was Stanley Kubrick themed. There were little black and white TVs everywhere playing weird stuff. Then in the back was a replica 2001: A Space Odyssey bedroom; from the end of the movie. With a glowing white floor. Many people would pile int…

There are still some. In Milwaukee, and now Chicago, there's a spy-themed bar called The Safehouse. The Milwaukee one has survived for decades, and they're still regarded as pretty cool.

Milwaukee is a weird town (disclosure: my home town, but left awhile ago). If it wasn't so close to Chicago, people would talk about it like Seattle or Portland. It's quirky with a world-class art museum, the largest music festival in the world every summer, a very reasonable cost of living, world-class universities, and amazing outdoor opportunities sitting directly on Lake Michigan and being a 30 minute drive from tons of massive state parks.

Re: Way ahead of its time: The Remote Lounge NYC (2013)

#65

Post by betamaxthetape »

An earlier (1968) venue with a similar concept was "The Birds Nest", a pub / nightclub in the UK.

> They renamed The King’s Head, an almost brutalist post-war booze bunker at 2 King Street, installing a state-of-the-art steel dance-floor, light-show projectors and a high-end sound system.

> They also installed an in-pub telephone network so that if you saw someone you liked the look of, you could dial their table and have a chat across the room.

Source: https://boakandbailey.com/2020/10/watneys-birds-nest-pubs/

[This information comes to me entirely second-hand, through articles and an episode of a podcast, so I can't vouch 100% for the accuracy.]

Re: Way ahead of its time: The Remote Lounge NYC (2013)

#66

Post by pcthrowaway »

nhod wrote: post #10

I actually was the sole developer who wrote all the software that “networked” the custom hardware together. This project was so ahead of its time and yet required some rather arcane programming knowledge. So much fun though. AMA!

Can you share any information on why the Remote Lounge shut down? I took a look and basically just found that it got "seedy" over time: https://ny.eater.com/2007/11/30/6808673/the-shutter-remote-l...

I'm curious if you think web2.0 expanded so rapidly that the novelty of interacting with strangers over a camera was no longer foreign to people (though it seems ChatRoulette didn't even launch until after the shuttering of the Remote Lounge), or if it was just the kind of gimmicky thing that had an expiration date regardless of how the world around us changed during that time period

Re: Way ahead of its time: The Remote Lounge NYC (2013)

#67

Post by Bluecobra »

nhod wrote: post #10

I actually was the sole developer who wrote all the software that “networked” the custom hardware together. This project was so ahead of its time and yet required some rather arcane programming knowledge. So much fun though. AMA!

Did the smoking ban change any of the social dynamics in the bar?

Re: Way ahead of its time: The Remote Lounge NYC (2013)

#68

Post by pauldix »

I went here in November 2001 right after it opened. It was my first time in NYC. I loved it, thought it was so cool. After that trip I decided I’d have to live in this city at some point. Moved here in 2005 and been in NYC ever since. Remote Lounge always reminds me of how magical and full of possibility the city felt (indeed still is!)

Re: Way ahead of its time: The Remote Lounge NYC (2013)

#69

Post by pmayrgundter »

Wow that place looks rad.

Another early one was @Cafe! They broadcast using CU-SeeMe when it came out for testing from Cornell. Back in like 94? smth like 256x256 greyscale, 1-10fps if we were lucky, but a pretty reliable audio channel and text console for group chat.

Anyone here from there? I was critt34 from CMU.

A memory.. I met Seal on it once! He was at a party in LA and the host had CUSeeMe opened on the same reflector @cafe usually hung out on. I was DJ'ing Ministry on the channel from my dorm room at the time and then someone came to comment on the music.. and I suddenly recognized him.. OMG, you're Seal! He laughed and we talked a bit about Koyaanisqatsi and then he said he was helping on the soundtrack for Naqoyqatsi.

Early web/internet days were so enchanting

Re: Way ahead of its time: The Remote Lounge NYC (2013)

#70

Post by pmayrgundter »

chuan_l wrote: post #60
bozhark wrote: post #15

This would be really neat today if there were different bars in different places all linked together like this. No ?, just a really neat concept

Love this post and reading about " remote lounge " ! I ran a night in a Chinatown dive bar here in Melbourne , Australia back in 1998 and inspired by the release of FSOL " ISDN " back then we streamed live performances from another club in Adelaide using 2 - bonded ADSL 128 Kbps links. It worked great despite just having enough bandwidth for decent audio and we ran 2 - small parties that were done like this .. Though…

Super cool! What a great album and bitrate moment :)
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