passion is in fashion

The age old question that has graced many the magazine covers.  One thought: the iPhone is rarely a graceful instrument to use.  I often see people poking/pointing/sliding/shaking/tapping the hell out of their iPhones, none of which is particularly attractive.  Remove the iPhone, and the movement itself is actually hilarious and kind of stupid.  Ask yourself this: does this body movement go with your strapless floor-length Oscar de la Renta gown?  I will posit that it does not.

On the other hand, the Blackberry is much more graceful to use, if not only for the fact that it is more mysterious.  You may see the person furiously thumbing away at something, but not necessarily what exactly he/she is doing.  In this matter, the iPhone is the equivalent of those clear plastic satchels a la Prada SS10 – with all its secrets shamelessly on display!

The similarities are uncanny

In the name of good style, I personally will not be pointing my well-manicured index finger to any iPhone soon. 

One night I decided to stay in. Honey decided to stay in. We decided to upload Facebook photos. She decided to comment on my photos. She decided to email me about something. Seeing that I was online, she decided to Google Talk me to share some gossip. When she couldn’t type fast enough to keep up with her excitement, she decided to call me to dish.

And so within five minutes, I was contacted via a thousand different technological channels. The Future, (dramatic pause), is here. Today, the way one uses technology instantly defines one as of a certain generation.

Take the provider personal of email addresses, for example. Most of the time, people fall into the Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, or Netvigator camps. These are extremely telling. Gmail became popular around 2005, where J was the first person I knew with a Gmail address. His brother bid on an invite for him on Ebay. Then Gmail invites became prevalent through massive college friend distributions. Basically, anybody from the graduating classes of ’05 onwards set themselves up with a Gmail address upon abandoning their .edu’s.

Hotmail is and interesting dichotomy. It could mean they were the first batch of internet surfer when they were *the* provider of free accounts before everyone else. It could also mean they are just an international person who like to use MSN for chatting and conveniently also use Hotmail (especially popular in Asia). Yahoo is undoubtedly the parental email address. My mom has one. Everyone around her age has one. Once Hotmail because too cutesy and confusing to use and Yahoo came out offering larger mailboxes, they switched over the Yahoo. Lastly, along with Netvigator, I’ll throw in the AOLs and any email address that came along with the person’s internet service provider. These are just so *unhip*.

Now let’s move onto another manifestation of generational gap: the level of mastery of prevalent forms of expression. I’ll stick with two examples: 1) The Facebook Wall, and 2) Twitter.

By this time, most have figured out the purpose of the Facebook wall. It is mostly for posting things that are 1) inconsequential and funny (e.g. miss u xoxo~! keke) or 2) getting in touch with people that one is not good enough friends with to personally email. Every once in a while, I see a wall post that goes something like a well-crafted typewritten cover letter. “Dear xxx, How are you? I will be in town for a few days was wondering if you are available. I forward to hearing from you. Regards, xxx” — I instantly think: what period is this dinosaur from?!?

The next new thing is of course Twitter – spontaneous broadcasts to undefined audiences. Just like the way Dior’s New Look was representative of the post-war society’s need to find something spectacular, Twitter is a reflection of today’s ME generation – who think everything they say is so witty and worthy of everyone’s attention. (What?! Of course it is.)

When I first started using Twitter, it was hard to wrap my head around the concept. I had no idea who (or if anyone) was reading my Tweets, and did not know how to contain my thoughts within 140 characters and still be interesting. As I read more and more Tweets, and silently judged who is worth following and who is not, I have to say the 140 character limit is brilliant. As one professor so concisely explained the length of a good paper: “Just like girls’ skirts, it should be long enough to cover the topic, but short enough to keep things interesting.” Some examples of good Tweets, where I LOL-ed:

• Got room service, utensils fell on floor. Either I’m really tired from the redeye or my silverware just tried to commit suicide
• At a friend’s house and when I walked by a cactus it poked me. Personally, I find that unnecessary and a bit immature
• In elevator, wanted to know cell phone carrier girl used b/c she said she had beautiful reception. She meant wedding reception

- By Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh

Now onto some examples of bad Tweets: “Going to sleep”, “Doing laundry”, “Eating dinner”, “Feeling lonely”. They are just not that news-worthy or entertaining. Yes, we *all* do that at some point. It is really not what you are doing or what you are thinking, but how you express it (in 140 characters or less.)

Maureen Dowd interviews the founders of Twitter. Three witty people together makes for a really funny interview. All answers in 140 characters or less.

ME: Would Shakespeare have tweeted?

BIZ: Brevity’s the soul of wit, right?

Read the whole thing in the NYT

Back in November ’08 I was hanging out with a bunch of particularly creative types and they were all about the Twitter. Hell, even their parents were on Twitter. Cool breeds cool. That was the first time I heard of the Twitter.

The second time, I was reading a parody of the Tweets of the presidential candidates circa December ’08. It was either in Vanity Fair or Newsweek, which I can’t seem to find now. Anywhooo, Sarah Palin’s Tweets went something like: shoppin’, huntin’, goin’ home. I hope you cracked a smile.

And last night, NPR’s Dan Schorr was making a report on Twitter. He is a veteran reporter with more than six decades of experience, and he is on Twitter! As I completely trust NPR endorsement, and am intrigued by which of my other favorite NPR personalities are on Twitter, I revived my Twitter account.

And so, you may now follow my every move via Twitter!

www.twitter.com