a girl in the world

finding beauty, pleasure and grace on the road less traveled

Twitter, will you marry me?

Twitter. Is. The. Best.

I remember reading articles when it first came out, about how pointless it is.  140 characters, posted in real-time.  Why?  What for?  How does that change anything?  Critics said it was a fad and people are still waiting to see how Twitter is going to make money.  I say to them, “Who cares?!”.  Sometimes, the economics of something isn’t always so clear in the beginning and that’s OK.

It’s poetry for geeks!  It’s real-time, raw, mind share.  A giant nucleus of a billion thoughts and voices, all speaking at once about nothing and everything that matters.  It’s fresher than news, blogs, TV!  It’s free from bureaucracy, censorship, subscriptions.  It gives power to all the little and big guys and enables conversation that would never have been possible before on any other platform.  It’s my favourite.

A few nights ago, I decided to stay in on a Saturday night that was supposed to be jam packed with social events.  I was tired, sluggish and couldn’t find the motivation to drive into the city.  The Manny Pacquiao fight was on HBO but I hadn’t made plans to watch it live from home.  I wanted an update – who was winning and in what round.  I searched Google News, blogs, Yahoo, Bing for anything, anything that would give me some indication of how he was doing.  Nada!  Not blogs, nor “live” news, nor sports websites could give me a smidgen of information.

So, I searched on Twitter.

Fourth round, Manny doing great.  And oh, here’s a link to a live stream.  Go watch it. For free.  And oh, here are the celebrations happening in the Philippines.  And here is a blow by blow account from a fan in the stadium.

Wow.  USEFUL.  Talk about value-added.  Talk about real-time useful content!  So much better than TSN or News or any other source that touts “live, exclusive, updates” and “real time” whatevers.  So many people and organizations over promise and under deliver.  How about not promising anything at all and just letting people contribute good, useful information, without making them jump hoops to do it.

I <3 Twitter.  I know Deepak Chopra’s thoughts of the day.  I can track Paolo Coelho as he writes his new book.  Brooke Burke tweets her workout schedule and my uncle in Calgary is just about to get his oil changed.  Personal.  Real. Unedited.  Is there anything on the web more genuine?!

And oh, I really really love the little bird logo.  Tweet, tweet!

Life lessons from Cirque du Soleil’s Ovo

Last night I was treated to a showing of Cirque’s Ovo, courtesy of a great friend who thought of me when a certain company decided to be nice to its employees by buying-out the entire show. Guests were invited.

Cirque is ridiculous. It’s the 2nd show I’ve seen (the other was ‘O’ in Vegas and that one made me cry it was so good) and this too left me feeling in awe. Here are a few life lessons learned from Cirque du Soleil:

  1. Impossible is just a word. I stole this sentence from a promo video playing in the refreshments area, but it’s true!  When you see a guy loose-rope hand-walking 30 feet above the stage, you realize that impossible is just a limitation that you give yourself.  I didn’t even think you could tight-rope walk with your feet!  RI.DIC.UL.OUS.
  2. Love your body. Cirque is so sensual.  It’s all about the body and movement and dance.  We don’t pay enough attention to our physical well-being.  Bodies, too, can be creative, pushed, taught, challenged.  We take it for granted that we have them.  Once in a while, we should don gorgeous costumes, put on beautiful make-up, blast fun music and just dance damnit! Just dance!
  3. Practice makes perfect. Have you ever seen a 10-person hip hop dance group perform off beat?  Well Cirque is the opposite.  Everyone is on-time and perfectly coordinated, which makes a world of difference in the perception of quality and expertise.
  4. Get a trampoline.

Suspicion

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This guy was naughtier than he looks. Taken in La Jolla in early February. Oooh, California sunshine. Your Spring, Summer and Fall seasons are just delicious.

Hi, I'm Denise. I'm a writer, artist and photographer. This is where I share what I'm seeing, learning and making.
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