Tweegypt

I'm not a big fan of twitter, generally finding it full of banal hourly updates, but after reading the twitter updates of journalists and bloggers in Tahrir, I'm finding twitter tittilating, and vital to how the Egyptian uprising and ensuing events will be documented now and historically.

Even in violent and dangerous circumstances, the public can follow moment to moment updates, which creates a narrative of personal experience and informs the public during events that could otherwise go unreported.

Check out this twitter, it is regularly updated and vividly descriptive:

http://twitter.com/sharifkouddous


I am likely one of the last people in the blog-o-sphere to figure out that twitter has media value, but such is my latent tech-development.

Not really my battle, but nonetheless...

Following is a story that is not actually my own...but it's almost like I get to confront all the sexist commenters on YouTube at once!

Basically, I became aware of this forum called the Bro Board after an NYE party, where my friend's friend gave her number to a random guy she had no intention of seeing again. The following day, a crude photo of his penis placed inside a hollowed out cucumber showed up on her cell. This obviously triggered a series of forwards, and a bit of internet trolling to figure out who this guy was.

Lo and behold, him and his comrades from the party had been blogging about their sexploitations on a publicly viewed but privately moderated forum entitled "the Bro Board." There was even an emblematic piece about the NYE party, which starts as follows:

"We roll up to <<>>’s place, he is throwing a party full of bros and

ugly chicks (as usual). As I walk in I see Dan sitting next to this

girl who I know does not like me. I don’t know why but she has always

been a total bitch and is always there because she is the friend of

M***, <<>>’s girlfriend. At that point she apparently tells Dan that

she really hates me, so he spends the rest of the night trying to get

her phone number to “spite fuck” her. He gets it."

The rest of the story can be viewed here, though it's more of the same and is kind of inane. 

Now, I get that there are forums like this all over the place, and this is probably on par with what you could read in most youtube video comments, but this group is declaring their forum a reclamation of the word "Bro." They constantly declare that the whole thing is a hilarious joke, and their over-the-top antics are only truly understood by those high-minded enough to know who they really are. Excluding women from the forum and either calling them drunk sluts or ugly bitches is part of their gimmick. Well, if who they really are would still text a picture of their dick in a vegetable to a stranger, it all seems pretty in step with their character.

em0sh0n

There was an event last night which encouraged exposing your most embarrassing online moments publicly. It was called OpenDiary Gold, and the idea was you mine your pre-2006 livejournal, OpenDiary, tumblr, etc. and then read out your most humiliating teenage angsty moments.

Of course, just before 2006, I had the presence of mind to delete my LJ, and unlike our present FB privacy issues, that meant it was permanently purged from the internet. Still, I had to check again after 6+ years of livejournal absence, so I entered my long outdated hotmail address, and: an account! Registered to username: em0sh0n!

Ok. I was definitely an angsty teen...but I was never em0sh0n. And also...what? There is ONE post from 2005, that's it? I was incredibly confused until I remembered that my hotmail account had been hacked and spammed in 2005, and I had to heavily encrypt my password and eventually never used the address again. Still, I had to check out what this spammer decided they had to blog about in 2005...and then I got really confused:

Thursday, March 31st, 2005

10:49 pm

[ mood | pissed off ] why do boys lie? whats the point. ya'll are flat out retarded. and i am downright sick. why do i even bother talking to dudes. its like they are good for a select few things. lying cheating lying making excuses lying being sketchy making up stupid pick up lines lying lying lying lying i as of today am just plain old over everything. why lie to me and tell me you arent avoiding me when you clearly are? whats the point? gosh, im just over shit now. . this is so dumb and im so pissed. im not even acting like a stupid girl anymore b/c i just dont give a fuck. In a gentle way: why is this kid such a douche bag bedroom dancingx: its probably hereditary best thing i've heard all day. i got a text from b rad telling me that daniel hasnt called me b/c i didnt sleep with him when we hung out... now i didnt realize the way to get a dude to talk to me was SLEEP WITH HIM THE FIRST TIME YOU HANG OUT? ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS? the kid lives in philly i dont even want to fucking go there. ugh dudes = sketchy. go lesbian Current Mood: artistic Current Music: What else...Bright Eyes

So, either this spammer is for real and they actually felt so moved by this incident that they had to create an account on my email address and blog about it publicly.

OR this is some asshole who read through some poetry I may or may not have mailed to myself when I was 15, but which definitely was not about boys wanting to sleep with me. I get the impression that said-poster is also the individual who left a NASTY comment on this post, which one can read if they so desire.

Basically, Fuck you spammer. But thank you, because I successfully read this post to a group and it was a hit. I have to particularly compliment you on the line, "the kid lives in philly i dont even want to fucking go there." Riot.

Burlesquein'

I love her.

One of the Top Ten on God's Ipod!

There are a slew of sassy ladies from the 1990s, and maybe that's why I have become stylistically and musically obsessed with that period. Of late, I have been listening to an indecent amount of Sade.

No denying, she fell into that exposed midriff category of sex symbols that would dance on sepia rooftops in New York City (see also Cindy Crawford's workout video), but watch as she lulls the city into comatose grooves:



The title of this post comes from the comments section on youtube. I like this imagining of god being into smooth R n' B and New Age mp3s. Maybe god is really going, "What is UP with these guys?! I gave them Sade, what's with all the aggression?"

My favorite part of this video are all the dudes who are REALLY digging it. There's the cab driver, the Goth-guy, the dude who is maybe a Springsteen fan? But maybe Sade is just the working-man's Enya.

How I know I'm late to Work

There is a passageway, from the metro to my work exit, where this little old man sings every weekday morning. I know I'm late for work when I get there and he's either gone or packing up after his set.

His repertoire consists of old-timey "covers" done in a very unique style...mostly monotone, a-rhythmic renditions of Bing Crosby's "White Christmas". He will occasionally make direct comments to passers-by and clap, loudly, in their face.

I am trying to find a picture of him online, but somehow he's not mentioned anywhere. He's the primary busker in my memory, though I know of several other infamous street performers...if anyone reads this who knows, what was the deal with that family who performed Michael Jackson covers?

My FB page

I've been spending my workday stalking people I don't know in the state of Texas.

I am feeling a latent sense of naivete as I troll the web and discover how easy it is to create a chronology of someone's life. The creepiest thing is finding obituaries for people's fathers, mothers or spouses. All those days of googling my own name, and only now I realize perhaps I'd prefer strangers not to be able to search my name at whim and discover the following items.

Chesley Walsh:

1. made a comment on Schwangdidhe's Myspace profile.
2. is a Huge Bitch (name of club)
3. is actually a more common dude's name, and he passed away in Winnipeg, MB.
4. is a member of the snowmobile club in Cumberland County.

I wouldn't mind that last one if it was true, actually.

Still, who needs such pathetic shit about themselves on the internet? The only person who warrants multiple google hits with my name is the heroic Chesley Sullenberger, that pilot who safely drove a plane into the Hudson. The most heroic thing I've done recently is force my lazy ass to clean the cheese off my dishes.