It was a short love affair. I found Twitter. I changed my account a few times before I finally got the hang of it and figured out what I’d be posting and to whom my posts would be aimed. Then I discovered DestroyTwitter and TweetDeck. I was in status update heaven.

I found Twitter to be idiot-proof and the aforementioned applications useful and just as easy to use. I liked that it was a constant feed of updates, links, and discussions that I could access at any point in the day. I was on the pulse of the literary world. It beats quickly.

I recently interviewed some staff at one of my favourite Toronto-based magazines and inquired about their lack of Twitter presence. The response: Twitter is another form of digital binoculars. One person said they found the community to be “creepy.” Coming from someone working at a horror-culture magazine, I found this to be alarming. If this really successful publication didn’t see a need for Twitter…why was I tweeting? Suddenly my inner Kant was wrestling with an argument between right-motive and right-action. Is Twitter just another form of attention-whoring? Am I doing it for the right reasons? Or is it just that I don’t want to be left out of the loop, like some desperate wannabe lurking around the smoking section, eyeing the cool kids?

Then when I got home, I checked my Twitter. Someone I had recently started following had stopped following me. She had left a message in my direct messages saying hi and thanks for following. I had chosen to wait until I had the time to sit down and write a proper 140-word introduction and the six-degrees of separation that had brought me to follow her tweets. Alas, my less-than-timely response had made her cut me off at the knees. It had only been three days.

I had become obsessed with my TwitterGrade from TwitterGrader. The first time I checked it was a measley 61%, by the time I left, it was in the mid-90s. My presence could go nowhere but down. My argument was answered: definitely wrong-motive.

In all seriousness, I am not sure how comfortable I am with online presence. I think I rather prefer anonymity. I like the updates that are irrelevant to my professional life and am likely to make more of those than not, perhaps to the chagrin of industry professionals. I just have trouble compartmentalizing my everyday self with my professional, online-presence-seeking self…they are one in the same, crude status updates and all. Since this is the case, I am probably a candidate for keeping a low profile online.

XKCD

This bot has always suspected as much.

I came across Last.fm about two years ago. At first I thought it was really unnecessary: Why do I care what everyone else on the network is listening to or that my music compatibility is “super” with a 15 year-old boy in Brazil? Well, I didn’t then and I don’t now. But the recommendations rarely steer me wrong. I suppose they use an algorithm to calculate what types of artists you’ll likely gravitate towards through “scrobbling” what music you are listening to you provide the information necessary for them to match you up with music and users (all of whom you would be compatible with on at least a musical level are called your “neighbours”). Users set up groups based on anything from political persuasions to geography, and of course, musical preference. Although it seems that most groups exist by name only, the forums are pretty bare and the comment walls are generally uninspiring.

How it works: You download the Last.fm scrobbler. You synch it to your media player of choice. It records what you are listening to and adds it to your Last.fm profile. From this information you will recieve recommendations for other artists and users with the same musical preferences.

The greatest thing about Last.fm is that you can listen to the radio online. You can type in any artist and a station will be created that has similar artists to whoever it is you requested. There are no limits and the quality is really quite good. You can “love” songs or ban them from being played on your station.

The second greatest thing about Last.fm is the up-to-date concert listings that are easily searchable. Much like Facebook events, you can indicate whether or not you plan to attend and you can see who else on the site is going to check out the same show.

What would I change about Last.fm? To be honest, I don’t think I’d change a thing; there are widgets available for blogs and ye olde myspace page, and they are constantly improving the features and appearance of the site.

If Last.fm were the new Facebook, I’d be really okay with that.

http://www.mcphee.com/items/11476.html

 

Photo courtesy of: http://flickr.com/photos/aggedor/303701/

Mammalian Diving Reflex is a theatre company based in downtown Toronto (http://www.mammalian.ca/template.php?content=home). They are primarily concerned with taking theatre out of the box and strengthening it as a democratic space that will inspire dialogue between attendees and performers. The company invests a lot of time and resources to involving youth and has, in fact, made youth integral to the creative process. Creative director, Darren O’Donnell is behind the innovative direction towards a civically engaging theatre that the company has been moving in since 1993.

Beginnings

In 1993, Darren branched out from the more traditional avenues a newly minted student of theatre would take after graduation. He had, to that point, found his groove, so to speak, at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, also based in Toronto. Inspired by what was going on there, but determined to forge new paths in Canadian theatre, Darren set about creating what would become Mammalian Diving Reflex—entertainment for the end of the world.

Mammalian Diving Reflex has a mandate that would be more than lesser-beings could cope with, when asked about it, Darren pauses in reflection. After some consideration he confidently says, “yeah, we do all that.” It’s not surprising that he can answer in this matter, not only because it is his mandate, but because it is inclusive of what comes natural to Darren O’Donnell’s very being, summed up in brief as: Intelligence, engaging material, and aesthetic consideration.

But MDR is not just about Darren—it is equally about the people in the audience. Audience has a different meaning in many of MDR’s shows, the are an integrated part of the performance, providing material, participating in what is happening and blurring the lines between actor and spectator, breaking down the traditional fourth-wall in theatre. A clear example of how MDR blurs these lines is in their Social Acupuncture program.

Social Acupuncture

Social Acupuncture is how MDR and O’Donnell are changing the way people interact and redefining what theatre-going means. Dissatisfied with the options available for adults looking to cut-loose and have contact with like-minded folk, as it was nearly always mediated by a form of consumerism or a distinct absence of light and conversation, the events and performances facilitated and created by MDR under the Social Acupuncture branch of the company.

Haircuts by Children

One production that has garnered a lot of attention world-wide has been the Social Acupuncture experience of Haircuts by Children. The title is self-explanatory: volunteers get free haircuts by ten-year-olds who have been trained by participating salons. Themes of vanity, the ability to trust in children’s choices, interaction with children, and valuing aesthetics from a child’s perspective are explored in this show. What is particularly interesting is how Haircuts by Children takes something that is so mundane, a haircut and turns it into something extraordinary. Adults have varied views on the act of haircutting, some think of it as a nerve-wracking experience, others revel in the luxury of having someone massage their scalp and play with their tresses, while some are completely indifferent to the act, maybe even to the point where they refrain from it.

What is unique about Mammalian Diving Reflex’s work with Children is that children are not an after-thought or relegated to a designated roll in the wings, they are an integral part of the creative process and outcome of the shows in which they are involved. Even though Darren admits to this being a business decision as well as aesthetic decision, the outcome is a theatre that engages and empowers children to participate in dialogues from which they have traditionally been excluded. The children that are involved in the productions are chosen because they come from economically and socially marginalized groups, which makes the work MDR does that much more important because it facilitates a voice and makes them noticeable beyond being statistics; Self-representation becomes possible.

Accolades

In 2000, Darren won the Pauline McGibbon Award for directing, as well as having been nominated for various Dora Awards for acting, writing, and directing. He has also won awards for radio broadcast performances and the a critically acclaimed writer of Social Acupuncture: A guide to suicide, performance and utopia.

More information on Darren O’Donnell and Mammalian Diving Reflex:

• http://praxistheatre.blogspot.com/2008/05/10-questions-darren-odonnell.html
• http://www.torontolife.com/features/running-scissors/print/
• http://www.eyeweekly.com/arts/features/article/2426

 

Books purchased today:

Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link
Valmiki’s Daughter by Shani Mootoo
Frameshift by Robert J. Sawyer

All for the low, low price of $8 at Value Village.

Purchased this weekend:

Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet
The Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England by Brock Clarke
The Big Bamboo by Tim Dorsey
Ground Work: Avant Garde for Thee Edited by Christian Bok

Top 5 reasons why it’s better to be a robot than a book:

1. robots were prominently featured in The Jetsons
2. people rarely burn robots in protest
   
3. there are no dance moves called “the book”
4. fewer papercuts when using robots
5. you cannot make a book into an anatomically correct life-mate