POPROCKS.COM
The online home of Jess Barron
Web content and community expert, writer, editor, blogger, and internet video producer.
Bio | Resume/CV

You can also find me on:
LinkedIn | twitter | flickr | yoostar | vimeo

In 2004, a guy who I don't know named Jeremy Abbate saw my website and wrote a song called "I Wanna Be As Cool As Jessica Barron." It still amuses me. Here's the mp3 and here are the lyrics.

Archives (slowly being reconstructed):
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See how this site looked in 1998
Poprocks.com screenshot from early 1998
and how the place looked in 2000.
Poprocks.com from June 2000
Yahoo counted me as a "cool person" from 1997-2001. How far have I fallen?!
Yahoo counted me among the "Cool People" in 1997-1998.
The internets have come a long way, baby...

March 16, 2010 Evolving Yoostar into the Future of Gaming
Last week the Yoostar team and I traveled to San Francisco to the Game Developers Conference (GDC) where we met with a number of gaming industry insiders to discuss our plans to evolve Yoostar into more of a "Social Video Game"™ over the next year. (Though we can't tell you our specific plans publicly yet, we will reveal more information at the E3 Gaming Expo in June 2010.) We can tell yoo that what we are planning is exciting and moves Yoostar into the future of gaming.

This Fall, console gaming as we know it will radically change when specialized add-on peripheral cameras for Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 will enable motion control of select games.

Last week at GDC Sony officially announced that it is launching The Move™, PS3's wand-like motion controller that will work with PlayStation Eye camera to track the users' gestures during game play. If you haven't seen it yet, check out the video of the demo Sony gave last year at E3:


At last year's E3, Microsoft wowed gamers by showing off Project Natal, which is their code name for the depth-sensing camera add-on for Xbox 360 which will allow a completely controller-free gaming experience. Natal will be available in stores this October, and Microsoft plans to announce the real product name for Natal and a list of Natal titles at this year's E3. The demo that Microsoft gave last year at E3 made Natal look pretty amazing; check it out:


What do yoo think of these new motion controlled games that will be coming out later this year? Which products and games are yoo most excited about? Tweet your comments at me (I'm @p0pvulture), and let me know.

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posted by Jess Barron @ 9:36 AM
March 2, 2010 We Gave William Shatner a Yoostar System...
William Shatner with Nick, Emma, and meAfter making my red carpet entrance in front of a wall bearing the Yoostar logo, I was inside the pre-Oscars "Suite of 100 Stars" at the Beverly Hills Hotel to introduce Yoostar to the celebs. William Shatner, Captain Kirk in the original "Star Trek" TV series and movies, Bridget from "Girls Next Door," James Pitt from "Avatar," Candace Cameron Bure (a.k.a. D.J. Tanner from "Full House"), Brody Jenner's mom (Linda Thompson), Mimi Rogers, Lou Diamond Phillips, Candy Spelling, Amy Yasbeck, John Heard, former NBA player John Salley and his wife Natasha, Charlene Tilton, Margot Kidder (Lois Lane in the original "Superman" movies), Lorenzo Lamas and his new fiance Shawna Craig, and Lou Ferrigno (the original "Incredible Hulk") all took home Yoostar systems.

I demo'd Yoostar for Joyce ("notaspringchick") Chow from MBN; check out the video:


As for those who stepped up onto the stage to try Yoostar, what movie scenes did they jump into?

  • John Schneider (the original Bo Duke from "The Dukes of Hazzard" TV series) put himself into a scene from "Beverly Hills Cop."
  • Alessandra Torresani (from "Caprica") put herself into scenes from "American Pie" and "The Addams Family"
  • Sofia Milos from "CSI: Miami" tried out the "Blues Brothers" scene "It's 106 miles to Chicago."
  • Alexa Vega (Carmen Cortez in the "Spy Kids" films) played the role of the girl scout in "The Addams Family" scenes.
  • Jessica Hall (Sirius XM radio personality) sat beside Kevin Bacon in an iconic scene from "Animal House."
  • Nia Long from "Big Momma's House," jumped into "The Blues Brothers" car and told John Belushi, "It's 106 miles to Chicago..."
  • Chris McDonald sat on the park bench in a scene from "Forrest Gump"
  • Susan Blakely played Goldie Hawn's character in "Foul Play."
  • Molly Shea from "Sunset Tan" played Cheech's role in a scene from Cheech and Chong's "Still Smokin.'"
  • Darris Love also chose a scene from "Still Smokin.'
  • Alice Greczyn (best known for the 2005 "Dukes of Hazzard" movie) put herself into "Forrest Gump."
  • Gina La Piana (best known as Gabby Ortiz from "Days of Our Lives") took a turn jumping into"The Blues Brothers" car with John Belushi.
  • Sheryl Lee Ralph did a bang-up job of a scene from "Blacula."
  • Stefanie Powers (best-known as Jennifer Hart from "Hart to Hart") jumped into "The Blues Brothers" car with John Belushi.
  • Joyce Chow from MBN also jumped into the Blues Brothers car.

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posted by Jess Barron @ 9:26 PM