context

JoanneFan from wreckandsalvage on Vimeo.

HAVE A MICE DAY, BEST FISHES.

Special thanks to a new favorite interweb destination, wordboner.com

The Gonz - Mortensen Photo

found @firstboner.tumblr.com

I know, I know. Who isn’t writing a blog post about Twitter these days. Lame, right? Thing is this: there’s just been too much to not comment. I’ve been on the service for a minute now, @halley_hopkins for those who may care, and I’ve cycled through a lot of  ”feelings” about it. I started back in March of 2007, and I have to say that my friend Bill Cammack, has summed up quite well a lot of what I think about Twitter. I’m very comfortable with saying that I agree with everything he has written in this blog post. In fact, we’ve talked extensively - to say the least, about what’s going on in the Twittersphere. I have to be honest. I have a love/hate going on with it. 

If you didn’t click on the link above and read the post and the comments, I’ll sum it up here. In the beginning it was fun. It was fun because we knew the people there. It was fun because the community was small. Now, it’s a different beast. I’m still there, because I need to be. I’m not just going to turn my account off, because that wouldn’t make any sense. I appreciate it now, for what it can do for my clients. I’m there because I need to be listening. All the time. And now the conversation is, why the hell would I want too many followers to follow, and follow more people than I know or care about. Doesn’t make sense. As I write this I realize that I really ought to go and prune back the twitter shrubery, but quite frankly I’m too damn busy. 

A few weeks ago, I realized that I hadn’t done much with my account in the last year aside from dropping my twits in a pail around election time (it was fun) and that I needed to man up and practice what I preached to all my clients. Anyhow. That’s why I’m writing here.

Round about the time that I decided I needed to jump back in on the information action train, I started looking around. And by looking, I mean looking. Generally speaking I’ve been thinking about the power of audiences, and crowdsourcing and all that great crap for a while to people who sometimes listen. I have witnesses who will attest to this.  So in the whole process of taking the temperature of the situation, I was looking at all the Twitter-famous, and noticed that there were people who were following, and being followed by a stupid number of people. But, once you get beyond the surface, you usually find a whole lot of bullshit.  More on that another time.

Anyhow, this post is about the real folks with internet credibility, with real people following them. 

Bob Lefsetz. If you give a flying F about music, our world, our anything- you need to read him. Sign up. Pay homage to the man who isn’t afraid to call anyone out, and is motivated by our collective best interests. He writes the greatest shit about music, and he writes the strongest call to action for the music industry. He puts in words our collective frustration with the machine, their silly DRM and narrow mindedness  - and all their shenanigans that keep this place from being a better place.

Bob finally came on the twitter wagon today, and I’m psyched.  I can’t wait. He’s got the goodness a-brewing.  You don’t mess with Bob. Bob has real influence. 22 hours after his first tweet, he had over 1000 followers, just from sending an email. 30 hours after, he had 2300 followers. All of this in spite of the fact that twitter was delivering a giant fail whale for anyone trying to follow for several hours. And in the conversation about who’s listening, and who’s just being that follower dude, read an email or two. You’ll soon learn that just about everyone following Bob is probably listening. It bet it’s good to be Bob. 

Bob's twitter feed at 2pm on April 8

found through zenmasterfoo

Writers Bench from Miss Tint on Vimeo.

“You are presently siting on the most historic writers bench in all of New York City. The writer’s bench is an important symbol and historical marker for graffiti writers. Beyond being a physical bench it grew to be a verb in it’s own right, describing the action of watching graffiti pieces travel into the station on the train. At the bench, writers congregated not only to piece watch but to critique, study, meet other writers, teach, sign each other’s black books, and discuss layups and yards. In a way the writers’ bench was the emergence of an unsanctioned free school dedicated to the tradition of graffiti. As time passed the writers’ bench evolved from being a great location for piece watching to a popular gathering place for writers from all over New York City.

Over a quarter century ago graffiti writers from the Bronx began meeting here to watch trains carrying graffiti pieces. This was an ideal location because it was where the 2 and 5 IRT lines converged showcasing work of the graffiti writers from the Bronx and Brooklyn. The bench began attracting more and more graffiti writers to the point that it was a place of pilgrimage for writers. Other stations benches became popular but none to the effect of this bench at the 149th St. Grand Concourse Station.

The first writers’ bench was formed around 1972 and located on W. 188th St. in Manhattan. Many writers’ benches flourished since that time and up through the 80’s before slowly being dissolved. Some of the most notable were the benches at the Atlantic Ave. and Brooklyn Bridge stations. Although the writers’ bench community has now shifted to other locations, such as online, these benches are remembered as icons that attest to the explosion of the graffiti writers movement and d.i.y. culture. ”

found at Wooster Collective

Once in a while there are moments of extraordinary belief in the ability of human beings to make truly beautiful things. This is one of those moments.

@Quirk on Cupcakes via BillCammack.com