It’s a thing we do when we succumb to new web2.0 services. The cool, the useless, the fun, the might-turn-out-to-become-interesting-at-some-point applications, tools, communities. The places where everyone says they don’t want to, don’t need go, but where in the end, everyone turns out to be. What we do is, we apologise. We look for excuses. We’re casual. Just checking. Because we kept receiving all those emails and invitations from friends. Because we got annoyed. Wanted to know what all the fuzz was about. Because we got tricked into it. And now we know. Actually, we forgot we already looked into it some time when it was still in private beta. Yes, it’s pretty cool, somehow, I guess. For some people. Not so much for me. With time, and all. I just stopped going there when the community grew too large, you know? God, if they haven’t deleted my account already, I wouldn’t remember my password if Rupert came and crawled up my arse to social network my intestins. My profile is so not up to date anyway, last time I checked them all was, what, 1999.
All I’m really trying to tell you here is that I’ve got a new one. I’m twittering now. I’ve submitted myself to what was called the most useless, time consuming {but somehow interesting} service yet invented on Mashable. I’ve tried it before and now I’m trying it again and I have to say: Twitter does fill a gap.
It’s the gap between blogging and chatting. It’s what you do when you want to say things that are not important or interesting enough to write a whole post about, but matter enough to be read by more than one person. All in all, it fullfills the need to express yourself to a lot of people, quickly, effortlessly. It’s the extension of mood updates, the better alternative to posting comments everywhere. One way or another, it’s an ego thing.
It’s interesting to see that many posts on Twitter can be categorised into either chatting or blogging. Many, many posts seem to be lines taken from a chat, incomprehensible to most other readers. Other writers truly become writers – each post is a quote, a micro blog entry, carefully composed, posted to be read.
Back to web2.0 services. The thing is, it never ends. Immediately after my first post, a digital tsunami of other needs welled up in my chest. I wanted a desktop Twitter feed and a widget for my blog, which wasn’t supported by bad, bad WordPress and I discovered Twittervision. I thought it would be nice to have Twittervision as an active desktop background, which turned out only to be supported by IE. Which in itself is unsettling on so many levels I can’t describe. At least not here. Maybe on Twitter.
One of the websites I’ve been most thankful finding for in the past few weeks is justconcerts.com. The man behind the smart URL is the radiostation CBC Radio 3, which focusses on indie bands, both established and new, from Canada. I’ve already discovered more than one interesting band in their new-and-unsigned-bands podcasts. Not only that, the lists of live concerts and sessions on various locations over the country include performances by Feist, Apostle of Hustle, Death Cab For Cutie, Interpol, Do Make Say Think, Four Tet… – and that’s only the section from A-F. A live version of Mogwai’s “You Don’t Know Jesus” gave me the chills today. Justconcerts.com seems an absurdly complete catalogue of the temporary Canadian indie scene and proves that cities like Montréal and Toronto are true talent breeding grounds. But we knew that already. As Malajube sang:
Montréal es tellement froid / … / J’m'inspire du pire / Pour m’enrichir / … / Tu gardes le rythme tu m’mets en transe.
It has happened. The most unsexy, inconsiderable thing in the whole wide world has become cool: muesli.
I first noticed it around breakfast hour in Berlin. In a city where culinary hipness is achieved just by presenting things in ridiculously large bowls, things go fast. Rolled oats, raisins, yoghurt, honey and a pile of ordinary fruit topped with an exotic piece of fruit that is not supposed to be eaten: no longer embarassing. Consumed with a side of latte, also in a ridiciously large bowl, it’s even become an undeniable scene hottie. Undeniable and unbeatable, because it’s healthy, too.
No wonder that good old healthy muesli had to go online. More even: go web 2.0. MyMuesli.com is a German-based website that lets you compose your personal mix of muesli. From the type(s) of oats and wheats up to every individual piece of dried fruit you can define exactly what your breakfast looks like.
I dare to admit: the concept has not left me untouched. This goes back to childhood, when I used to be nicknamed “muesli-monster”. Growing up, I went throught several phases of independency during which I was suspicious of any wet, cooked or just generally suspicious looking food. Among the few things I was always prepared to eat – morning, noon and night – were dry bread and dry muesli. I will eat any kind of reasonable looking food now, but my preference of having my muesli without any milk has stayed and continues to freak people out to this day.
Back to the startup of the year. What’s 2.0 about MyMuesli.com, besides their so obviously and cleverly stolen name? Their future mission and purpose. Their blog (correct) has recently announced upcoming user accounts, enabling customers to have their orders saved, simplifying payment and future ordering. No doubt that as this site continues to get popular, user accounts will be made public. Avatars, profiles and messaging will be enabled. Then, we will able to pick future lovers based on their inclination towards raisins. Clever – it’s a significant step towards reducing moments of akwardness and surprise the morning after.
As for me: I’ve been so lucky as to not have scared the man away with my dry muesli. Though at a rate of 8 euros per box, I would have hardly taken the risk. For people who like to go on the safe side, there is www.mymuesli.com.
What’s a girl to do in the middle of the night when she is tired, alone and feverish? She walks through 99 rooms, opens doors, strokes walls, turns light switches.
Though relatively old, still amazing web art.
