Something new
March 31st, 2006Please, please, PLEASE find me something new.
Something really new. Not like the joke that I just got for the hundredth time in my email. Not the words of wisdom that I just read on someone’s blog (that has been hanging on my wall as a poster for the past four years). Don’t give me the personality test that I’ve taken 500 times and gotten every possible answer on, just to see what the different answers did. Don’t tell me the joke that I heard when I was 21 or the touching, inspiring story that’s made the rounds over and over and over again. I don’t want to see the same clip of the same people doing that same thing again, I’ve seen it more times than I can count.
I knew I Like Monkeys before I had an email account (shoot, it was before MOST people had an email account). I’ve been spanking the monkey and whacking penguins for YEARS. I turned other people on to the Anonymous Message Server and to Kevin Kelm when his eyes used to follow you around (major points for getting that particular reference). I’ve seen no less than 10 sites of before and after shots of airbrushed celebs. I’ve run my pictures through to see what celebrity I resemble, and which celeb others resemble as well.
People ask me "Have you seen…?" and "Do you know about…?" while I’m "spamming" my friends and family with cool internet things that they would probably never have found before. Once, when I was always online in IM (as opposed to set to "away" or invisible as I am these days), people would IM me and ask for a link they had never seen before. every single time, I could do it in less than 3. Usually I could do it in 1. Sometimes even if they asked for a specific topic.
I have mixed feelings. On one hand, it’s pretty cool. I’m on the cutting edge of useless internet things 
On the other hand, where’s the cool stuff for me? How come I have to go out there and find it or wait for it to find me?
So, if you know of something cool that you think I haven’t seen, please share. And… if you’re ever looking for something you’ve never seen before, ask me. I probably have something you’d like 
I bet you haven’t seen these : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahDY03np-Vc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxPpAXfCaD4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqoRdYnznpg
they are clips from pakistani/indian films. Hilarious!
Comment by tipsformen � March 31, 2006 @ 6:28 am
Hrrm…I got nothin’…
Seriously, I’ve pretty much stopped “surfing” the net at this point. There are specific sites I visit frequently, but those number a half-dozen, give or take. Beyond that, I just don’t go out looking for something randomly interesting. Sure, if I have a specific query, I’ll start with Google and go from there. I do find myself reading sites that Google turns up, but I rarely go back to them.
I’m not really sure why that is. Perhaps we’ve become so accustomed to having the world at our fingertips that it’s grown stale for us. There is no longer any thrill in being able to find a cool new site. Sort of a “been there, done that” situation. I believe my switch to Mac was for much the same reason. I’m trying to make my computer and the ‘net tools which I use rather than toys which I play with. Sad, really, as I used to enjoy them both immensely. I’m sure I will again some day too, but just not right now…
Okay, this comment is starting to run away with itself. Perhaps I need to go fire up ecto and make a real post…
-JB
Comment by Jason � March 31, 2006 @ 8:10 am
I can find you all kinds of stuff I think is cool, that you probably haven’t seen, but I don’t know many other people that would find it cool or in some cases know what they are looking at unless they too are car folk. Vroom.
Comment by Ed � March 31, 2006 @ 12:26 pm
everything and everyone is new, unique, special once we take the time to look beneath the surface and make that thing or that person unique to us… new is all around us, we just need to stop and spend the time to explore enough to find it…
Comment by candoor � March 31, 2006 @ 13:04 pm
sorry, i am a loser. i have nothing to share, sorry ;(
Comment by Dawn � April 1, 2006 @ 0:30 am
New stuff happens all the time, but obviously the popular cool stuff is something which will come back to haunt. Like the Hamster Dance, the Turk site “I kiss you!” and various others, as new people connect and suddenly discover.
There is a depth to the net though, and it’s nothing to do with the Internet. It’s to do with things like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, free books online, eCommerce changing your life, and electronic services. Email, you’re still using it right? You’re blogging and meeting people online.
The Internet is a media revolution, just like TV was. You’re sick of the boring shows that some people stick with, but you can still find good content out there. It just isn’t there to make you smile any more, but to be part of your life.
The point made about a handful of sites that are the only ones visited is becoming a trend though. One news supersite, one eCommerce supersite, and a few less known faves and / or geek sites (Slashdot, Digg) and you don’t need anything else.
-Fruey
Comment by fruey (Let's Have It) � April 1, 2006 @ 7:39 am
That was the first time I’ve seen the “I Like Monkeys” forward since… oh… 1995… I remember just howling when I first read it… your point is made, though. I gave up on forwards probably by 1996.
Comment by Al B Here � April 1, 2006 @ 14:53 pm