Fundamentals of Interactive Journalism

Attention Brooklyn hipsters: your next soiree could play host to an unlikely party guest. Page Six reports that 57-year-old actor/comedian Bill Murray has been crashing house parties and hitting up bars that generally cater to the 20-something set. In October, Murray strolled into a Halloween party at an East Williamsburg loft, to the shock and delight of party guests. Apparently he had been party-hopping with musical duo MGMT after one of their shows. 

This Bill sighting is just one of many unusual appearances the actor has made on the nightlife scene recently. According to the Post, Bill was spotted a few weeks before at a bar in West Chelsea, where he joined a table of 22-year-old girls and bought them rounds of champagne. Last year, Murray earned the title of most helpful party guest after showing up at a bash in St. Andrews, Scotland, and offering to do the dishes after hosts realized they were out of clean glasses. 

Oh, and then there was a small incident involving Swedish police, DUI and a golf cart. 

Many are saying Bill’s behavior is a sign of an obvious midlife crisis following the actor’s public and messy divorce last spring from Jennifer Butler Murray, his wife of 11 years.

“I suppose he was slightly flirtatious, but really, it was more like he obviously wanted a bit of a chat. He seemed a little lonely,” one of the party-goers said. 

Whatever the reason, the man can do no wrong in my eyes. I absolutely adore Bill. So if any of you happen to cross paths with Murray, or spot him at one of your parties, sulking in the corner with a can of PBR-please, please invite me!

Free accommodation, new friends, cultural experiences, delicious food, interesting languages, fun parties… The Couchsurfing Project is all that and more, at least according to the members of the New York Couchsurfing community.

While it’s sometimes difficult to explain the core idea behind the movement, the Couchsurfing.com website explains that it is “a worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the local communities they visit.” That means that when you travel to other countries as a Couchsurfer, you can stay with local residents there rather than staying at a hotel.There are currently nearly 850,000 members (and their couches!) to choose from.

Many travelers and backpackers prefer to Couchsurf rather than to stay at hostels, and not only because it saves you money. Many feel that Couchsurfing guarantees you a more authentic travel experience as you will live with local people and take part in their everyday lives.

“Everyone raves about it,” said Vivianna Neder, 25, from Flushing. Since she only joined Couchsurfing recently, she hasn’t “surfed” with other members yet, or had anyone stay with her. But then that is not all there is to Couchsurfing. Couchsurfers also organize activities and form social groups in the cities they live in. The New York Couchsurfing community is one of the most active ones in the world, with over 8,000 members and 51 groups.

“I’ve pretty much made a whole new groups of friends that I always hang out with now,” Neder said. “That’s all I do, I hang out with Couchsurfers,” she said, laughing.

As you can see, Couchsurfers come in all shapes and sizes, not to mention ages. Though the average age on the site is 27, and 85 percent of the people are under 34 years old, there are still nearly 120,000 members who are over 35. And a total of 183 people who are between 80 and 89 years old! There are members in more than 200 countries and on every continent.

Like many things in life, Couchsurfing is what you make of it and it’s an individual experience. Here, seven Couchsurfers who recently got together for dinner in Queens in New York explain what Couchsurfing means to them.

Since The Couchsurfing Project was started five years ago by traveler Casey Fenton, there have been over two million positive experiences, a whopping 99.791 percent of all member experiences. While some people are scared to give Couchsurfing a try due to security issues, the current members say to go for it.

“Open your mind to experience it,” encouraged Laura Johnston, 32, who is originally from Australia but now lives in Sunnyside, Queens. “Three times I have had Couchsurfers, and I am not dead yet, so it can’t be that bad,” she said and laughed.

So what are you waiting for? The surf’s up!

Here you will see Couchsurfing in action.

By Maya J. Pope-Chappell

Impostor journalists are crashing high profile parties in New York. At least that’s what an article in AM New York claims. Although fairly poorly written, at least by Craft 1 reporting standards which shuns anonymous sourcing and quoting just one person, the article raises an interesting idea.

The idea of an impostor journalist.

Why would anyone want to fake being a journalist? I asked three journalists at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism what they thought about these posers and what it means to be a real journalists. Here are their thoughts. What are yours?