The new version of NetNewsWire, Newsgator's desktop feedreader for the Mac, is fantastic.  I'm not just saying that because I was honored to be quoted in their press release - it's really a joy to use.  I haven't been able to test out GoogleReader offline via Google Gears yet, but this new NNW is so nice that I'm struggling to find the motivation to do so.  That's awful - I will do so soon and will let you know how it goes.  Perhaps I'll do that when I take some special time to clean up my OPML files - something I'm sure we could all benefit from taking the time to do!

Speaking of OPML files, or collections of RSS feeds if you're unfamiliar, if you're a Firefox user you should check out BlogRovr.  I don't use Firefox (I prefer Safari) but it's plug-ins like this that make me doubt my decision.  BlogRover lets you upload your personal OPML file of feeds you read, along with a selection of topical feeds they offer that you can chose between and then every time you load a web page, they check to see if your favorite sources have linked to said page.  The viewing options are really nice too, but the concept - wow!  Talk about bringing it all together - yes, please - automate a quiet notification if any of my favorite sources have also written about whatever I'm reading.  Love it!

Finally, speaking of recursive online art - are you familiar with the film Four Eyed Monsters?  It's not to be missed!  Two artists in New York date for like 6 months without speaking to each other directly, just through art.  Then they make a movie about their falling in love, video blog the heck out of it and get thousands of friends on MySpace.  Feature film debut on Valentine's Day in theatres across the country, any city with sufficient requests via their website.  I saw it in Portland, loved it.  

The news?  Now the full feature length film is up on YouTube and movie social networking site Spout is running a cost-per-action style sponsorship.  For every person who creates an account on their site, via the FourEyedMonsters promotion, the company is giving the FEM crew $1.  I don't know if it will work, and I hope there was a base level of sponsorship as part of the deal - but hey, this is cool news.  I urge you to create a Spout account and support these awesome indy artists leveraging online social media!   I learned about this news on the up and coming blog 901am.  I'm going to blog about it over on SplashCast this afternoon and embed the full video blog series along with the full length film.  Yay!