Internet Nostalgia
How do we handle sincerity on the internet?
Welcome to part 11 of our Internet Nostalgia series, which looks back at phenomena that captured the internet’s imagination and attention for a fleeting moment and then vanished as everyone moved on to something else. This series looks back at those olden times and what they told us about the internet and ourselves. If you have a suggested topic, email me at williamfleitch@yahoo.com. Last week, we looked at Boaty McBoatface. This week: the Double Rainbow guy.
Date: January 8, 2010.
The story: In 2010, Paul Vasquez had the good fortune of living just outside of Yosemite National Park. He was…
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Thank you for approving of my house, stranger.
On Wednesday morning, I appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to discuss my new novel How Lucky, which is available wherever books are sold this very second. It was a fun conversation with Willie Geist, Claire McCaskill and Mike Barnicle, and it featured the following screenshot, which is the sort of screenshot one appreciates when one is trying to sell books.
Every answer feels like “too soon.”
I was watching the truly delightful The Mitchells Vs. the Machines on Netflix with my two sons the other evening when one of them, Wynn, the younger one, got aggrieved.
“Why does that kid get a phone and I don’t?”
Wynn was referring to Aaron, the young son of the Mitchell family, a dinosaur-obsessed kid (voiced by the film’s director, Mike Rianda) who, like the rest of the humanity, is so transfixed by his phone that he barely notices when AI technology turns on him and attempts to shoot the entirety of the species into space. It is perhaps a…
Internet Nostalgia
Did you know they switched boats on us?
Welcome to part 11 of our Internet Nostalgia series, which looks back at phenomena that captured the internet’s imagination and attention for a fleeting moment and then vanished as everyone moved on to something else. This series looks back at those olden times and what they told us about the internet and ourselves. If you have a suggested topic, email me at williamfleitch@yahoo.com. Last week, we looked at the Ice Bucket Challenge. This week: Boaty McBoatface.
Date: March 2016.
The story: The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is a perfectly normal, rather boring U.K. organization that funds scientific endeavors and…
You should read it. You would like it!
I have been very careful, in these regular pieces I’ve been writing for Medium for months now, not to go over the top with the promotion of my new novel, How Lucky, which will be released by Harper Books on May 11, next Tuesday. But with publication date so soon, I’m afraid I will no longer be so careful. I apologize in advance.
I have been asked a lot of questions about the book, and while we’ll be doing a publicity tour over the next fortnight, I thought a little Frequently Asked Questions primer might come in handy. Hopefully this…
It has been a while. We’re very rusty.
This week, I am going to a party. I do not know if it will be a good party or a bad party, and, if I’m being honest, it does not particularly matter. It’s really less a party than Starter Social Event, a slight tiptoe back into the world as we once knew it, way back when, way back Before.
Do you remember the last party you went to? I am not sure myself. It was probably a 2019 holiday party, and I was probably dreading it. Another holiday party? Why, I’m so busy! Who has time for all these…
Internet Nostalgia
Sometimes the Internet isn’t all bad.
Welcome to part 10 of our Internet Nostalgia series, which looks back at phenomena that captured the imagination and attention of the internet for a fleeting moment and then vanished as everyone moved on to something else. This series looks back at those olden times, and what they told us about the internet, and ourselves. If you have a suggested topic, email me at williamfleitch@yahoo.com. Last week, we looked at 2 Girls, 1 Cup. This week: The Ice Bucket Challenge.
Date: Summer 2014.
The Story: At first, the Ice Bucket Challenge had nothing to do with ALS at all. It…
But perfectly average days no longer terrify me, and that’s incredible
On Monday, I crossed a pandemic milestone: I reached the two-week threshold since my second vaccine shot. I am, for all intents and purposes, in the clear. I suspect there will be Covid-19 booster shots coming in the years ahead, and I do not mind this in the slightest because the number one thing I’ve been worried about over the last 14 months — will I get Covid? Will I give it to someone else? Will I get sick? Will they get sick? — is no longer something I am worried about. That was the goal, wasn’t it? …
Learn a lesson from sports
For about 90 seconds, I thought the 2021 Academy Awards were going to be awesome. Regina King, who had a film she directed, One Night in Miami, up for three Oscars the year after she won one for If Beale Street Could Talk, strode into the Oscars like she owned the place. Producer Steven Soderbergh gave her an Ocean’s 11 intro to establish his goal of making the ceremony feel more intimate and personal, and you half expected Vegas fountains to rise gush behind her in celebration. I’d never seen anything like it at the Oscars before. It was exciting…
Internet Nostalgia
Don’t worry, there’s no link to the video here, promise
Welcome to part 9 of our Internet Nostalgia series, which looks back at phenomena that captured the imagination and attention of the internet for a fleeting moment and then vanished as everyone moved on to something else. This series looks back at those olden times, and what they told us about the internet, and ourselves. If you have a suggested topic, email me at williamfleitch@yahoo.com. Last week, we looked at The Numa Numa Guy. This week: “2 Girls 1 Cup.”
Date: 2007.
The story: There is something about the internet…
