Once Upon a time in Tweeter Street

My article on Verve Media

A while ago I got the chance to interview this awesome fellow about his just as awesome photography project, Tweeter Street where he captures Twitter users re-enacting one of their tweets at the location they tweeted it.

I did an article on it and was lucky enough to get it featured on our student magazine wesbite, Verve media.

Please have a read here (or the picture above) if you've run out of socks to fold and beans to separate or something. Cheers!

A little narcissim never hurt anyone

Photo: New Car Networks

Doesn't everyone love to talk about the "social media" nowadays? The journalists loves it, the politicians loves it, your consumer psychology lecturer loves it, the snotty kids on the train certainly loves it. With the rise of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr etc, there are more ways than ever to put whatever you want about yourself online whenever you want. People have even started to define our era as the "Mum mum look what I've done era".

You can sit there in your hipster corner and try to convince yourself that you "only" use Facebook to stay in contact with friends (you know all 403 of them) or keep up with news through your Twitter account, but both you and I know it's not true (believe me the sooner you leave that corner the better).

We all use social media platforms to put things about ourselves (to what extent is another a story) out there for people to read, and then hope that maybe, just maybe, someone will acknowledge it or even compliment you. The journalists, politicians, lecturer and the snotty kids on the train however are now questioning our need to put every little detail about ourselves online - everything from what we ate for breakfast to what we think about the new Spiderman trailer (it was so-so). Why do we consciously or unconsciously cry out to the world to see us, to hear us? Most importantly, is the social media fuelling such ego-centric indulgence?

Perhaps, but why does it have to be a bad thing? Of course it would be terribly aggravating (to say at least) to be around people who constantly need to tell everyone what they're doing and thinking, especially if it's meaningless jibberjabber like "I bloomin' love Jaffa cakes". In a culture where narcissism is a big no-no, we've been taught that it's not polite to boast or to be conceited.
But unless you're an altruistic saint, it's only natural to want to tell people what makes you a good, cool or nice person and what your opinions are. Social media is a place for that.

Why is it so bad to have a place to vent all of our narcissistic needs? Why is it so bad to express oneself and hope that someone somewhere might feel the same? Aren't our opinions as valid as anyone else's? Aren't there enough of things we keep suppressed inside us already?

But still you may think there's no need for people to flog who they're dating and not dating or whether they care about Amy Winehouse's death or not, all of which just make them look like desperate attention-whores. Well, let them decide what they're going to put up and how they're going to be perceived according to it. When did you become the useless online info police, huh? No, I didn't think so.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: Twitter Style

Here's another Twitterature post. Been working on this for a while now, it's somehow still quite long.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
@BehindTheseGreenEyes

So this giant Santa-Clause guy says I'm a wizard and enrolled at a magic school. Right! He must be on crack.
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Hagrid (giant) is serious. Currently in London, getting stuff for school. Went to the wizard bank, turns out I'm loaded. Eff yeah!
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Why is everyone telling me I'm famous?! And stop touching my scar you freaks!
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At King's X. Info guy looked at me as if I was barking asking for platform 9 3/4. Awesome. Hey..did that ginger just walk through the wall?
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School's a proper Dracula castle I'm tellin' ya. Got into Gryffindor. It's normal to tell a talking hat where to (or not to) put you right?
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Classes are wicked! Flying lessons sure beats PE! The Potions prof. Snape hates me though. Not my fault you haven't gotten laid in years!
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Who's the youngest in centuries to play for their house's Quidditch (kind of basketball on brooms) team? Who? Yes, moi. #swag
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TheDailyProphet
Dark wizards/witches believed to be behind Gringotts break in. Spokesgoblin insists nothing was stolen. Investigation continues.
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This guy Malfoy is pissing me off! Seriously needs a life. Challenged me to a duel but never showed up. Wuss.
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A 3-headed dog locked inside school. Check! (Was it standing on a trapdoor?) #notevenjoking
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Apparently Ron and I are friends with this valedictorian from hell, Hermione. She's better now, after we saved her from a 12 ft tall troll.
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First game and we totally beat the crap out of Slytherin!170-60! Snape's officially an ass for trying to kill me. #gryffindorslytheringame
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None of my business but Snape's up to no good. Bitten by the 3-headed dog, huh? Too bad it was only his leg.
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Merry Christmas folks! You won't believe what I got - an invisibility freakin' cloak! Girls bathroom next! Just joking. #or
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None of my business but does anyone know anything about Nicolas Flamel? Anyone?
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Baby dragons sounds a lot cuter than they are. Not that I know someone who has one or anything..
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Not supposed to tweet during detention, then again what kind of detention is walking around the forest? Malfoy is totally shitting bricks.
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It's normal to get a head splitting headache from seeing a guy drinking unicorn blood right? It was V------?! Well no big deal. #youknowwho
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None of my business but the Philosopher's stone eh? No wonder Snape wants it, eternal life and all the gold you want. It'd def get him laid.
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Revision is a bitch. Especially with this freakin' headache. Do they have Nurofen in this world?
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Snape's gonna make the move. None of my business but I need to stop him.
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Turns out it wasn't Snape. However, prob. shouldn't tweet about it. I'll just say: Man with 2 faces - totally kicked his ass.
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So it's back to Kent tomorrow. Sucks. Oh well, can at least threaten Dudley with turning him into a pig.

Phantom Of The Opera: Twitter style

Insipired by Twitterature I decided to have a go at Phantom of The Opera (rewatched it yesterday). However, rather than retelling the book (by Gaston Leroux) I'm retelling the movie (Phantom of the Opera, 2004). Yes, it's somewhat vulgar but that's all in the spirit of the Twitterature.

Phantom of The Opera
@ChristineOftheOpera

Got this awesome song teacher. Don't know his name but he sounds hot. Let's call him Angel of Music or Phantom.
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OMG, the new opera patron is my childhood sweetheart Raoul. Yup, he still wants me.
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Phantom took me down to the dungeons tonight. T'was awesome and not scary at all. He groped me but it's ok.
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Despite that scary ass mask, I'd totally tap that.
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Think Phantom likes me. He told everyone I should have the lead in the next opera. Think daddy would've been proud.
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Opera owners decided to give the lead to that diva bitch who can't even sing. Phantom wasn't happy, he killed a guy.
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I went to the roof with Raoul. Yup, we totally did it. Think some perv was watching us from behind the statue. #privacyplease
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PARTY TIME! Raoul proposed. Don't want to tell anyone yet. What would daddy think?
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Phantom totally crashed the party and was pissed at everyone. He had a black mask. My panties dropped to the floor.
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He said I was his forever? Wuut?! Confused. Wish daddy was here, he would sort this out. Right, gonna visit his grave.
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Daddy? Is that you? Darnit, it's just Phantom. Raoul's here too. They're fighting each other now. Too tired to intervene. #boyswillbeboys
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Raoul made a trap to capture Phantom. Planning-Raoul is so hot!
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Shite, I must be the bait. What if Phantom takes me? Did I tell you the dungeons stinks?!
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Haha! Tore your mask off in front of the whole audience. That's what you get for groping me!
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In the dungeon, listening to Phantom's sob history. Nobody loves me sob sob... Oh yes Raoul's here to save me!
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Feel sorry for the deformed dude. Alright I'll kiss you and you better let us go!
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We're free! But the opera burnt down. Oh well. Andrew Lloyd Webber better not make a sequel and call it Love Never Dies or something stupid like that.

Twitterature

Nowadays I'm a full-time lazy ass, which is incredibly nice. I've been reading quite a bit. I finished Sherlock Holmes' The Hound of the Baskervilles a few days back and went on to read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone, which I've never read in English before (yes, gasp and disgrace). While at the library I stumbled upon this absolutely brilliant book:

Picture: Penguin Books

You may know I've had some serious cases of Twitter addiction and I would like to believe it's better now, however some of it is still there I'm afraid. Twitterature takes 60 classical books and retells them in tweets. Beowulf, Pride and Prejudice, Dorian Gray, the Odyssey, you name it! The brilliance lie in the straight forward and sometimes quite vulgar comments (tweets) which tells the story in its uttermost essential and what you should've picked up from reading between the lines.

Excerpts:

Emma (Jane Austen)
@Darcylover1815
Isn't it funny how I'm always thinking about things I seem to not care about, people I don't love, and marriages I don't want to have?

Hamlet (William Shakespeare)
@OedipusGothplex
WTF IS POLONIUS DOING BEHIND THE CURTAIN?

Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë)
@heathbar
My dying wish: that my spirit be united with Catherine's, that we roam the heath together forever, and that Kate Bush writes a song about us.

Cheerio,
Tiffany

News, without the boring bits

A Swedish London-based journalist slash fashion student's take on everything's newsy

Hey, you make sure to follow my news Twitter for my take on news - without the boring bits. ;)

www.twitter.com/stuffbytiffany (or click on picture)

Cheerio,

Tiffany

My take on everything newsy

A journalism slash fashion student's take on anything newsy.

So I'm back from my breakdown. Relatively stable and content.

Last week when I was feeling lower than lowest I made myself create this Twitter account where I post news and what I think about it. Just to show I'm in there and have opinions. It doesn't hurt and it's acutally surprisingly satisfying. I know no one follows it but at least it's out there for anyone to see.

So why don't you check it out. :)

Cheerio,
Tiffany

Wonderfully egocentric

So you might be wondering (probably not), who is this person (..she talks loads of shit)? Sometimes I wonder the same thing. As wonderfully egocentric I am, I will try to answer that question in this entry.

My name's Tiffany. I have one of those Chinese surnames you've probably never heard before. So yes, I'm originally Chinese but live in Sweden, until last year but more of that later. I lived a shockingly normal still, on the verge of boring, life in Sweden's 3rd biggest city with my family. I went to school. I studied a lot of English because I wanted to be in a Harry Potter movie (true story). I was a person with practically no free time because I studied and when I didn't I took both acting and violin lessons.

Last summer I graduated high school/upper secondary school (or whatever you call it) and moved on to study fashion marketing and journalism (yes that's my course) in London. Although I spent about 7 months in London the previous year I still consider Sweden as my home. In September I'll start my 2nd year and it more than sometimes freaks me out. I don't think of myself as a journalist, I neither think of myself as a fashion person and that also freaks me out.

I'm a highly classified no-life person. Most of the time I don't do anything interesting. I take a lot of pictures and I think photography is interesting as hell...and stuff. I edit and post most of my photos on my tumblr blog, on which I spend more time on than I would like to admit. I also teach myself to play, mostly Jonas Brothers, songs on the guitar. I regularly follow TV series and watch insanely many movies. If I could live anywhere it would be in a cinema auditorium.

And finally. I tweet. I recently rediscovered a Taiwanese boy band. I've had my heart broken once and never loved since. I rarely text or use my cellphone for that matter. I got Facebook purely from peer pressure. I would love to direct one day and I'm really into elections.

Peace out,
Tiffany