It’s not often we have the chance to test drive a new app the moment it’s released. We missed the boat with so many of them–Instagram, Vine, Meerkat. So when we saw that Twitter had just released Periscope, its live video streaming app, we jumped on in an attempt to get ahead of the curve for once.

What we found was…well, a lot of people doing what we were doing: testing it out by filming their dogs, or their office, or their kids, or talking into their front facing camera. It’s fascinating to see these early baby steps, before the platform has thrown up any “stars” or anything has gone viral.

Of course, Periscope seems ripe for misuse, and we assume that it’s only a matter of hours before the network is chock a-block with all kinds of kinky stuff we shouldn’t be watching. Stay tuned for a Buzzfeed story on the first live robbery to be “periscoped“ (see, we don’t even have an official word for it yet!) or the first couple do do the nasty while sharing it with every one of their Twitter followers. About five minutes ago, we saw some guy take a pee, so things seem to be off to a grand start.

Will Periscope take over the mantle that Meerkat assumed only last week? Who can say? This is social media, baby: things move fast. Who knows if either platform will even survive the two minutes it will take us to finish this post?

EDIT - Well, that was quick. Ten minutes after we posted the above, a building collapsed in NYC’s East Village and Periscope became a go-to place for people to share video of the scene. Not at all the kind of viral event we were hoping for.

Ever since they improved the intercoms on New York City subway trains, I’ve become a casual connoisseur of different conductors, and the vocal techniques they employ in announcing the stops. Most just sound bored, while others express evident dissatisfaction with their lives through the hostile, resentful tone they take with the passengers. But there are a few who put some effort in to it, such as one guy who used to announce the 1 and 9 trains back in the ‘90s. He sounded like a cross between a carnival barker and an old-time department store elevator operator listing the shopping options at each floor. “You’re on the number 1 train, headed downtown to lovely South Ferry. This is Columbus Circle: you can transfer here to the fabled A train is you want to head up to Harlem, hop off to take a stroll in beautiful Central Park, or just gaze in amazement at the stupendous Trump Tower just above this station.”

My current favorite is usually on the C train, though sometimes he’s assigned to the 1. He plays it pretty straight until he gets to “stand clear of the closing doors,” which he always delivers in the same strange quasi-British accent, dropping the “o” sound in “closing” nearly an octave, then swinging back up to end with a prim “please.” I always crack up at this, no matter how many times I hear it.

But I may have found a new favorite this morning. He sounds like John Lee Hooker: specifically the slow-talking-blues Hooker. Low and mellow, but with an undertone of urgency. He sounds like a fellow convict whispering quietly in your ear, trying to talk you down from doing something foolish in the Yard. “Please move in to the center of the car. We need to get lots of people in. We’re coming into a crowded station. Lots of people trying to get on. We can get through this people, we can get through this.” It was one ofthe most reassuring subway rides I can remember.

PERISCOPE UP!

John Lee Is Driving My Train