Monday, March 30, 2009

Love in the Time of Twitter


(For anyone unfamiliar with Twitter, discover it here.
Basically, users select a real or fictitious username to
communicate with friends, family, and strangers
by "following" them and using a shorthand system
of "tweets." And yes, I just joined Twitter here. )


Ginny feels like the world is conspiring against her. Oh, and I’m out of Blow Pops. Sucks, hard.



Cap'nCrunch wants to know what Ginny's favorite flavor of Blow Pop is. And what her favorite film is. And anything else about her, under 140 characters


Ginny thinks that strawberry is divine. But not on Cap'n Crunch. And movies? Hmm……………
…………………................................................ ....


Cap'nCrunch is now bummed. My favorite film is Lost In Translation, btw. Bill Murray is hot.



Ginny admits to laughing at "O Captain, My Captain" over there. So I'll say my favorite film is Dead Poets Society. Robin Williams is way hotter.


Cap'nCrunch sees your dead poets, and raises you a Patch Adams.



Ginny runs screaming from keyboard, stubs her toe, crumples, curses, and screams louder. Decides never to eat nautical-inspired cereal again. :(


Cap'nCrunch has lost his sailor's smile with Ginny's Mr. Frownie. Was prepared to follow her until the edge of the earth. And topple over.


Ginny wonders if Cap’nCrunch means “follow” in a Twitter-ese way, or in more of a U2- I-will-follow-stalker way. And world is round.



Cap'nCrunch has already been “following” Ginny’s tweets for several months. But neither of those. *sniff*


Ginny is just teasing Cap'nCrunch. It’s the lack of Blow Pops. Makes me as dry and crunchy as cereal without its milk.



Cap'nCrunch is glad. Was getting all soggy over here.



Ginny wants to know where “here” is...




Cap'nCrunch can see the Empire State Building from my window. And some guy taking a whiz in my alley. Ahh, New York.


Ginny lives in Brooklyn. Ahh, Brooklyn.




Cap'nCrunch is slack-jawed (<--seriously, look). They gotta sell Blow Pops somewhere between those two sighs, yeah?


Ginny is scared to take this relationship to an over-140-characters-reality-based level. What if you are, in fact, Cap'n Crunch?



Cap'nCrunch has no epaulets. Can’t promise more than that.



Ginny thinks that epaulets are almost as smokin’ as Patch Adams. Shame.




Cyrano is following Ginny and Cap'nCrunch and wants them to just do it already. Everyone else following 2 lovebirds who agrees, say “tweet.”


Galadriel says, "tweet."




cwalken says, "tweet?"




Cap'nCrunch says, "tweet, tweet."




Ginny still feels like the world is conspiring against her. On a happier note, things are looking up in the Blow Pop department...

22 comments:

Pallav said...

This is a work of sheer and absolute genius!! This one surely put a smile on my face :)

Hope you are cool if i share it on twitter and follow you :)

Cheers!

N

Aniket Thakkar said...

Oh I joined twitter only a couple of days back (My bro is mad about it :) ) And what a post this is!!!

I was smiling all the way through. Never pictured you to write a post in such a street talk manner. :) Is there any form of literature (am not sure this falls under literature though :-) ) that you can't write???

Am all smiles... and almost forgot *tweet* *tweet* :-)

Steve H said...

this is spectacular - very well done !!

Aniket Thakkar said...

You never told your husband was a writer too! One awesome site he has.
And I agree... HTML hates poetry! :-)

Sarah Hina said...

Nothingman, feel free to! Will follow you, too.

Glad I could give you a smile. :)

Aniket, this is definitely not literature!! ;)

Thank you for your enthusiasm. :) I liked the idea of two people meeting across the extreme confines of something like Twitter, and choosing to grow that relationship into the outside world.

And yes, Paul is a writer, too. He really labored putting his poetry book up on Kindle. Ack, html.

Hotwire, so good to see you again! And thanks. :)

This was a fun, frothy one to write.

jaz said...

Sarah this is so perfectly brilliant!!! You have captured "love in the time of twitter" perfectly. I stand in awe of your enormous reserve of talent and I'm guessing you didn't get through this without cracking yourself up! :)

Karen said...

Ah, love is tweet! Oh, forgive me that one. Very, very bad.

As for the story, original and fun! I love the Christopher Walken! You know Six Degrees of Separation? There can only be one degree with Christopher Walken --He's everywhere!

As for Twitter - one of my daughters uses it for work things (she's head of a university's digital scholarship library and scholar's lab). The tweets post on facebook, and I'll have to admit that I don't understand a thing she says! I'm usually pretty good with this digital stuff, but twitter...I don't even want to go there!

Great one, Sarah!

Anonymous said...

Ha! I agree that this really was a work of modern genius. But you can't fool us. There was an intricate interplay woven in there with the music and playful sparring. I think a lot did come across about them. I'm hoping the meeting creates a new kind of spark.

Aine said...

Yay! Texting in love... Can't say I haven't had that experience! :)

But tweeting is a much more modern twist. Crazy limitations those 140 characters impose. Hmmm. Takes some ingenuity to pull that off. And ingenuity is something you have in spades, dear!

Great use of names and innuendos.
This is fun to read!

David Cranmer said...

Sarah, I have to pass on Twitter.I spend to much time staring at screens as it is. Loved your post though.

My Foot? said...

Sarah Hina ! This is the sweetest Twitter post I've ever, ever, ever read!

(is following you in a Twitter-ese way):P

Catherine Vibert said...

That is excellent, creative as hell! I can't believe how well you pulled this off! Actually I can believe it because you are amazing. CWalken had me ROFL.

But seriously, your tweeting now? No no no no no...oh, what has the world come to...

Charles Gramlich said...

Egads, I think my head is going to explode.

Pretty neat story in tweeter format, though

Sarah Hina said...

Jennifer, I definitely cracked myself up...and over the dumbest things. Even that stupid Cap'nCrunch avatar got me going. I'm such a dork. :P

Thank you for enjoying it as much as I did!!

Karen, best pun ever! I honestly laughed. :)

Funnily enough--there was a cwalken on Twitter who was a riot. Unfortunately, it wasn't the real Christopher Walken, so they made him take the account down, I guess. :(

I'm going to tread lightly with Twitter, I think. Or "tweet" lightly (okay, now that was lame!) ;)

Jason, it is funny how much can be discovered through a cloaked medium like Twitter. People are probably braver, in a sense, with what they reveal, if also more secure with the distance.

Thank you for the kind words! :) These two will be creating some sparks. And downing some Blow Pops. :D

Aine, been there, done that, right? ;) You guys were on the front line of a social revolution!!

I'm glad this was a fun experience to read. That's what I was striving for! Something light, and flirty, but with a sincere undercurrent supporting the interplay. Thank you for the warm reaction! :)

David, I hear you, trust me. I already spend way too much time online as it is.

Thank you for the compliment, though!

The Shmoo, yay! More followers. It's all part of my evil master plan (mwaa ha ha)...

Seriously, thank you for stopping by and for having fun with this! Will follow your tweets, too. :)

Cat, I know, I know. What can I say? I love birds, and wasting even more time on the internet. So presto. :D

Thanks, my friend. This was especially fun for stretching those creative muscles. And yes, cwalken deserves a song written about him...with lots of cowbell. ;)

Charles, sorry for the brain bend. :P

Thank you--if I didn't experiment with new things on here every once in awhile, I would start getting predictable. Perish that thought. ;)

Jennifer said...
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Jennifer said...
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Jennifer said...

(Okay, I think my tech issue is resolved. ;) )

Sarah,

I was about to say that you are never predictable. But that's not true. Your work IS predictable in quality (amazing) and in voice (for the most part, twitter-inspired posts aside ;)). I've been trying to think of a good way to describe the way I experience your writing, and if I were as good of a writer as you, it wouldn't be so hard for me to do so! :)

It's like something soft skimming over your skin. You want to hold very still and just feel it. There are no jolting sharp edges, no misteps. I really cannot do it justice, but when I read your work, all I know is there is a very specific feel to it. Some writers make you see, but you make us feel.

And I don't know if that made any sense at all! :P

Sarah Hina said...

It makes beautiful, heart-expanding, soul-satisfying sense, my dear friend. Thank you so much for saying so. Really made my day. :) :)

That's how I experience the act of writing, too. I sometimes wish I had more of a visual sense while writing. But I am usually caught up in the characters' heads and their emotional struggles. I'm very grateful I can translate some of that for readers, too.

And I want to see more of your work (you mystery lady...btw, when do we get the full reveal?? ;)). I know I haven't read much of your writing yet, but it does conjure the same sort of feelings I get when reading Lahiri. Strong and assured prose, enlivened by subtle details and a quiet depth of emotion.

Thank you so much. :) I hope you're enjoying your break...but not for too long. :P

Jennifer said...

First of all, sorry for the multiple posts! (I finally went over to Aniket's to work it out. :) )

Second what you said about Lahiri is about the nicest thing you could say since she is my idol. So I thank you enormously.

And no full reveal in the near future. As I told Aniket--part of a story, part of a face. :P

Sarah Hina said...

In the immortal words of my daughter...pretty please, with sugar on top? :P Especially as far as your story is concerned.

I have a hungry email box, ya know. :)

(kidding, though...take your time...I can be patient...kinda sorta ;))

Karen said...

YPB - Yay!!! You know what I mean!!

Sarah Hina said...

Karen, thank you, too!! I'm lucky in my friends. :)

Feeling very warm and fuzzy right now...