Buying your way in through Facebook?

Disney just launched a new way to buy movie tickets online. So far it’s just for their upcoming release Toy Story 3 but they’re planning on piloting it for this hit and then rolling out more movies to it.


Basically Disney Tickets Together is just an application that lets you buy tickets to the movie directly on Facebook, and then asks who you’d like to invite friends right at the point of purchase so that buying tickets instantly becomes a social activity.

Really Disney? You’ve socialized internet shopping. Now we can still do it from your underwear, during our favorite TV shows, and still skip all of the traffic/crowds/lines…but now we can do it with friends who are also in the comfort of their undergarments and Lazyboys. Just imagine! It could be a virtual shopping trip between you and your best friend, at any time of the day you want! Maybe even fire up the Skype video chat so you can talk and see each other’s reactions to various items? 

Okay, okay…maybe I’m getting ahead of myself here.

But something just as simple as movie tickets through Facebook would be concert tickets through Facebook. Why not? Most of us would probably agree that concerts are a much more social environment than watching a movie and going to a concert by yourself is just as lame as going to the movies by yourself. It’s a perfect fit for social online shopping, so I hope you promoters are taking interest.

You can read more about Disney’s Facebook application in the New York Times, and you can try it out on Facebook here.

And thanks to Chris Taillie for the inter office tip!

14th Time Around

I made a last minute decision to go see Bob Dylan last night for the 14th time. He performed at upper Manhattan’s United Palace, an Egyptian-styled art deco theater. Sitting down, the smells of popcorn and incense mixed. Dylan was amazing, playing much more harmonica than I’d seen him play in past shows. For several songs, that was his only instrument as he stood center stage like a ring leader or medicine show doctor. His band was excellent as well, reacting to his melodic twitches and knowing when to heighten the tension and when to let it release. I thought he was in good voice all night and particularly enjoyed “Stuck Inside of Mobile with The Memphis Blues Again,” his rewritten version of “Man In The Long Black Coat,” an intense banjo-based “High Water (For Charley Patton),” and an absolutely thundering electric blues version of “Ballad Of A Thin Man.” One of the best of the 14 Dylan shows I’ve seen and one of the best I’ve seen in 2009. And in case you were wondering, no, he did not play any Christmas songs.