Hello there.
My name is Christopher and I have spent the better part of my life in pursuit of the rarest social circles this planet has to offer. I have slogged through the densest jungles of Mallamoorana in search of the Bitϑaru, a people who communicate solely through vigorous and vexing movements of their eyes. Deep within the Arctic Circle I espied the elusive Ťavѩ and watched in rapture for hours as they poked one another with icicles in a befriending ceremony never before seen by outsider eyes.
In my travels I have come across people who communicate with animals, ferns, stars, and even the soil of the earth. And yet I believe even these most exotic communications pale in comparison to the coming age of digital sociality. From Minneapolis to Marrakech, Neath to Niigata, people are joining social circles for which the limitations of proximity and the ready availability of icicles no longer apply.
They poke, friend, chat, tweet, and follow. They get linked in, blogged about, hung up on, and stabbed in the back by level 5 wizards they totally thought were their friends but were, in the end, only using them to get to a stash of magic crystals. They struggle to decipher texts, determine whether friends are JK or entirely serious. IYKWIM. They flounder and accidentally Reply All. They apologize profusely in wall posts. And through it all they share ideas, forge friendships, commit facebook faux pas, but forge on.
I have spent my life as an adventurer. And now I should like to take my adventure from the tundras and highlands to the vast electronic plains, exchange my mud-caked boots for a keyboard. As a copy O-Tern at Olson I hope to use words and ideas to clear paths connecting people to the things, companies, and people that excite them, much like I once blazed trails through the dense underbrush of Karamanduro and Pikinanuhara.
But before I trade my machete and travel adventure beard for metaphors and alliteration, I offer you these two items of film I have gathered in my travels; the strangest social circles I have ever had the pleasure of observing:
Item 1 -
Nestled amongst the wet woodlands of northern Maine, Madame Corrison’s Silver Sliver Bed and Breakfast hosts an annual Spectral Square-Dance. Participation in recent years has spiked dramatically since sponsors of the ghoulish get-down created a facebook page where high-stepping spooks could RSVP and download sample mp3s from the hottest artists in the underworld.
Item 2-
On the Aldomandalindo Coast, the bravest and most honourable man from each village is selected to risk life and limb to join that people’s most coveted social circle: The Order of the DinoTanners. To gain honour for his village, each man must sit amongst the horrible Dancing Lizards of the western coast until he has gotten a beautiful, golden tan…or perished in his attempt.
Note – The audio from the above clips has been omitted in order to comply with music copyright laws. Also, if you have not yet come to suspect that parts of this post are flagrantly fallacious you must run in some staid social circles.
Sincerely,
Christopher
Tags: 2010, O-TERN, OLSON, Social Circles