Biden Announcement Re-Affirms the Influence of X

I believe it was an article in Politico that nudged me to take an interest in Twitter. This was early 2008 I believe. The article pointed out how journalists were using the social media platform to see what was happening and what's trending. It wasn't long before Twitter became my "go to" for following global events.

The terrorist assaults in Mumbai during Thanksgiving weekend later that year demonstrated the power of this new medium. As the horror unfolded people were Tweeting their S.O.S. distress signals to the world,

The power of Twitter and Facebook for disruption has been extensive as well. The two social media cites have been used to organize protests, spread information and to mobilize coups, overthrowing the leaders of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

During covid, Bob Dylan released "Murder Most Foul," from his epic Rough and Rowdy Ways, Dylan's first album of original songs in eight years. The midnight tweet reverberated around the world. A week later he followed up with "I Contain Multitudes."

And so it is that big news can break without leaning on traditional media. While yesterday's tweet by Joe Biden surprised many, utilizing the platform X to announce his stepping down from pursuing a second term, it was not without precedent.

If you're a writer and are not part of the X, formerly Twitter, community... what are you waiting for?

Tech Tuesday: "Open the pod bay door, Hal"

There are people on Twitter (X) who ask questions for the purpose of generating engagement. Often it's about music, like what is your favorite album, or who is the greatest drummer, or what is the best guitar solo ever recorded. 

Today someone asked, "What movie have you seen ten times or more." A couple of films came to mind, and there are quite a few that hurdled the "five times" threshold, one of which I watched again tonight. But this one came first to mind, which I saw at Radio City Music Hall when it was released in 1968. How many times have you seen 2001: A Space Odyssey?

It's a classic for many reasons, one being the realistic depictions of space flight. Another being Kubrick's mastery of visual storytelling. 

While looking up an image to go along with this blog post, I discovered a website in which someone has created 569 gifs extracted from this film, a pretty impressive feat. Here are a few of them, followed by a link at the end to the full catalog of 569 animated snippets.

 

 

CHECK OUT THIS SITE.... 

2001: A GIF Odyssey