The online housesitting nightmare

They couldn't stand living under the gaze of 32 webcams, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

By Will Leitch

Feb 26, 2001 | I'm a broke, unemployed and currently homeless dot-com casualty. I'd been drifting around New York for a couple of months, trying to find work (which would, in theory, lead to an apartment, then to women, success and, eventually, fame, money and literary stardom). Then a friend of mine told me that Josh Harris, founder of the now-defunct online webcasting company Pseudo.com, had asked him to housesit at his loft for a week, and that if I wanted, I could crash there too.

Harris is best known for his work at Pseudo and another company he founded, Jupiter Communications, but last November, he took on a different kind of project. Flush with the millions of dollars he paid himself through his site, Harris rigged up his gorgeous SoHo loft with 32 cameras and microphones and proclaimed it open to the world. For 100 days, Harris and his girlfriend, Tanya Corrin, lived in full view of whoever visited their new site, www.weliveinpublic.com, where a burgeoning community of chatters offered commentary on Harris' and Corrin's every waking -- and sleeping -- moment.

Ninety-three days later, Corrin moved out and published a bitter tell-all of her life with Harris under the camera, and the two of them may or may not be flaming each other on FuckedCompany. Harris was now broke and taking a break from the project, and the place was empty. Except for us.

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The loft is beautiful. Even if I do get a job someday, I will never make enough money to live in its smallest closet. I don't want to exaggerate here, but the place spans at least 12 square miles. The floor is shimmering wood; the television is projected 20 feet high across the side wall; the inside is covered with Warhol silk-screen prints. The furniture is just postmodern and artsy enough to be unbearably uncomfortable.

The pièce de résistance is the control room. It's what I always imagined Darth Vader's sleeping pod looked like on the inside. On the main switchboard are four monitors, each containing 16 little pixelated video screens. From here you can watch the shower cam, the toilet cam, the bed cam, the refrigerator cam, the cat litter cam. I see myself on camera No. 10. It's situated right above the main computer monitor, and focused on the top of my head.

I get on a computer and log onto the site.

Welcome to fullmix, Leitch!

I stare into the computer. People are chatting about nothing in particular, calling one another names, complaining about boredom, typical chat room pap. Then another message appears.

Don't just sit there. DO something!

He's right. I'm not doing anything.

I wave frantically, like a boob.

I go out for a while to visit another unemployed, depressed friend, and return to the loft that evening. I sit down at a computer and enter the chat. I'm insulted almost immediately.

Now isn't this more interesting than some dick playing on his computer?

I assume he's being sarcastic. I decide to chime in.

I'm Will Leitch, the guy tapping into the computer on camera 10. It's insane here, I think.

After 90 days of this, there aren't many people in the chat room on a Saturday night who aren't regulars. It's immediately clear who the ringleader is, a guy called "testpod69," who quickly starts asking me questions. Apparently, Harris hasn't been too chatty lately, and people are eager for the interactive experience that he promised would take hold. I explain who I am and why I'm here, apologize for the lack of activity -- I am waiting for my friend Jessica to come by -- and notice a link in the bottom right-hand corner of the page.

Visit two of our most popular fansites: www.ourdna.org and www.weliveinthefridge.com. The fridge site has a better name, so I go there first, but it's mainly just a compilation of screen shots of people in the shower. I check out the other one, where I find, my jaw dropped, the latest update.

Re: Day 88 (Saturday 02/17/01) "Will Leitch moves in 13:13 AM One of the loft guests in chat: 'I'm Will Leitch, the guy tapping into the computer on camera 10. It's insane here, I think. This is my first day here. Working on a story.'"

I'm in the game. People suddenly become curious about what I'm doing. I'm playing Radiohead's "Kid A" on the stereo, and so the chat room people debate whether or not it sucks. (They end up just making fun of my singing.) They want to know if my friend Jessica is hot. They accuse me of picking my nose.

I get up to use the restroom. I rush to return. A message is waiting.

You should wash your hands.

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