* Photo: Embry Rucker * Ah, the mall. Department stores, food courts, a 5 x 6-foot room where you can make Web videos of yourself singing "Fergalicious" in a tropical setting. Not familiar with that last one? Then you have yet to experience MyStudio, a self-contained recording booth popping up at gallerias in California, Arizona, and New York. For $20, aspiring artistes enter a kiosk that looks a little like the metamorphosis machine from The Fly — if it had been designed by Prince. The $300,000 pod comes equipped with hi-def video and audio equipment, allowing users to sing, tell jokes, or beg for someone (anyone!) to go on a date with them, all accompanied by one of more than 1,000 animated backdrops — from the kitschy (the Eiffel Tower, a placid waterfall) to the downright inexplicable (a men's bathroom). Once your demo is complete, you get a DVD, and your performance is uploaded to MyStudio.net, a social network combining the ease of YouTube with the egalitarian awfulness of America's Got Talent. Will the system unearth heretofore undiscovered stars loitering by the Orange Julius? Visit the Web site to judge for yourself. Just remember: You don't get to vote anyone off.
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