Inter-you, Inter-me, Internet

When, may I ask, does the internet become indispensable to the world?

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Excerpts from The Star (28/12/2006):

KUALA LUMPUR: One group that has been badly hit by the disruption of Internet access is the blogger community. Most bloggers using overseas-based servers like Friendster, Xanga and MySpace have found it difficult to access their weblogs. Blogger Joyce Wong said she only managed to upload a few sentences onto her blog.

“It is really getting to me because I have all my information and contacts online and I cannot get my work done,” said Wong, who is known as KinkyBlueFairy online.

For radio deejay cum music producer Johan Farid Khairuddin, the inability to post his blog meant that he has been disconnected from his fans.

“I blog very frequently – every five minutes if I may say so – and this breakdown has affected me emotionally as I am unable to interact with others,” said the 26-year-old.
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But, seriously bloggers. Were you that affected? I was simply irritated cos I couldn't check my mails at work. I guess I am not a serial-blogger, yet. I was just asking my fellow blogger, Sam at Transmission 8, this question earlier: "What would happen to the world if there is no internet, mobile phones, telephone AND TV?" Sam said he would scream.

And, all hell will break loose, too. I told him. The kids will start to go out and play on the playground. And suddenly, they all know what is 'konda kondi' and all the other 'kampung' games I used to play. Hmm...I sure hope that will happen *devilish grin* That's because kids are too caught up with themselves lately. No? It's all about 'ME'. But, if it happens, total cut off from any form of communications, I think I will just sit back, chill out and enjoy the show. Now, THAT'S "reality TV", wouldn't you say? Haha...

Times (Asia) recently voted the YOU as the 'Person of the Year'. Yes, YOU as in US. There was a reflective 'mirror' on the cover of the magazine which follows by the caption, 'Yes, you. You control the Information Age. Welcome to your world.'

'We are the citizen of the new digital democracy,' the story continues. Since the inception of blogging and YouTube (and of cos, a lot other internet services such as Flickr, mySpace, Multiply etc), the world is becoming smaller and smaller. Everyone in the streets blog about their life or has a mySpace. The 'Ah Poh' selling vegies at the market, the Captain from the U.S Army who was sent to Iraq, the 15 yo girl aka Lonelygirl15 created by two screenwriters, the geek, your boss...anyone, really. Some of these guys may have had dramatically changed the political scene, namely, a certain someone called Lane Hudson after he purpotedly revealed on his blog that Mark Foley, a Florida Representative, tried to hit on him (Hudson) unsucessfully. Foley, of cos, resigned from his post.

Malaysian bloggers are just as 'happening' as our fellow bloggers in the US of A. Last year or early this year, a blogger was charged with a certain amount of hours doing community service for blogging on his drug habits online. Kenny Sia's unabashedly threw a party in the sleepy Kuching city inviting all his fellow readers and openly discussed about Circumcision online, a randy 21 yo openly speaks about his sexuality and his mother's view of it, and his confession of LURRVE to a certain someone in UK (trust me, he is just a small friction of a larger community of teenage girls who openly confess their love online haha....he's soooo gonna kill me) and our local R&B queen's manager blogging about her activities around Malaysia and overseas (seriously, does he really think we are so gullible that we do not know he is managing Nin....whoops). Of cos, there is more but let's stop at that now.

We all, if truth to be told, cannot live without the internet. It has become such a big part of our lives and without it, seriously, I cant possibly be ranting about stuff like this online or show off my photographs (dont even talk about discovering that talent of mine).

Times featured a few other "citizens of the new digital democracy" and one of it is Ali Kurshid, 22, from Karachi, Pakistan who takes pictures "to make sure Pakistan's real beauty was put through,"" he says. He started taking picture at the age of 8 with a disposable Kodak camera and he had since moved on to fancier digital gears eventhough he has hung on to his low-tech attitude.

"I love how the best pictures are usually taken with Holgas and other toy cameras (I seconded his theory!)," he says. "It just confirms my beliefs that the eye is supreme in taking brilliant photo. The camera is secondary." Kurshid judges a picture's quality by its use of lights and its spontaneity- "by the fact that one moment later it would have all gone," he says. "If someone can turn the ordinary into a dream, that person to me is a genius."

And btw, Kurshid uploads all his 200 pictures and counting on his Flickr site. I post mine here :)