From the new article:
It was just before 5 p.m. and Mr. Kurtz, living in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, ordered a pizza. As one does, when one is 24 and living amid a generation of creative people whose every utterance and experience might be thought of as content, Mr. Kurtz filmed and posted to Tumblr a 10-minute video showing him awaiting the delivery.
Among those who liked the video was a stranger Mr. Kurtz had already admired from afar. It was a guy named Mitchell who didn’t reveal his last name on his Tumblr account, just his photographic eye for Brooklyn street scenes and, on occasion, his face. Mr. Kurtz had developed a bit of a social-media crush on him. “I would think, ‘He’s not even sharing his whole life, that is so smart and impressive,’” Mr. Kurtz said....
Posts
30 comments:
The college girls who come to the bar: they love their social media. Sure, there are regulars who use social media, but Not Like That. Not Like That basically meaning like This: snapshots and film clips and texting, seemingly every action, posted. Video or it doesn't exist. Video or they don't exist.
In the evenings the college boys hang around the college girls, and the college girls hang out with each other and their phones. They make faces for one another, they pose, a shimmy here and there; they are no doubt aware that the college boys are watching, but the boys are mostly left as subscribers to the live feed: the girls just want to have fun. And it isn't fun anymore if you're not showing yourself having fun to your friends.
So if a college girl is playing pool, one of her friends films it. They take photos of the empty glasses they have amassed on the table. They look at each others' phones, to see what each other is doing. They document their evening, and in the morning they can review it to see what actually happened, because it all became a blur and they can't really remember the end of the night. And you couldn't have been blacked out, not really, if you were still texting. Or taking photos. Some of which may have to be deleted, of course.
It probably is nice, being able to delete the awkward moments. Except those awkward moments are now on other people's phones. Not The End of the World, unless it was so obviously The End of the World. Like it was accidentally posted on the site your parents can view, perhaps.
Romance still happens at the bar for the college kids, of course: alcohol will ensure that. And it must be a different world for the college boys now: years ago what The Object of Your Desire did, or talked about, was often a Mystery outside of your view. You filled out the gaps with your dreams and lust and conjecture. Maybe there is still Mystery, even when it seems like college girls post everything: maybe it's a plus to know things about her you previously wouldn't know, even after weeks of dating.
Or maybe you can grow tired of her before you actually ever have a relationship with her. I suppose that happens, too. Because now you can pretty much have a relationship with her, even if she's never talked to you.
- james james
What nice young men. I am sure they were saving themselves for marriage and will have a long and stable relationship.
I'm just glad Prince Harry saved himself for marriage.
@Laslo - I hope your collected works are published one day.
@Althouse - Prince Harry looks much too cheerful, one might even say gay, to have saved himself for marriage. ))))
I started reading the blog long after your wedding. Great stories - thanks for sharing. But then, that is why most of us appreciate your blog. Happy New Year!
You reposted it for her, now repost it for me! Repost it!
Happy New Year, JML.
Happy New Year to all.
Same to you, Ann!
Do we have anything definitive about the pizza place where he was waiting in line? At their wedding they had Williamsburg Pizza.
I'd watch 10 minutes of waiting in line at Di Fara but I probably wouldn't marry the guy afterwards.
"Mistah Kurtz—he dead"
Ron said...
"You reposted it for her, now repost it for me! Repost it!"
Ron,
You must remember this:
A sext is just a sext. website is just website
The fundamental things apply
As blog scrolls by.
And when two lovers woo
They still say, 'I'll email you'
On that you can rely
No matter what the future brings
As Blog Scrolls By.
At what precise point does inventive tip over into trendy? Holding a wedding at the Strand Bookstore is imaginative, but some other touches seem kind of hipster overload, and there were so many of them. Can two such resolutely trendy people find enduring love or will their marriage end up in the remainder bin?
Thanks for linking to your movie-worthy love story. As a relative newcomer here I hadn't read it before. Have a very Happy New Year, you two!
Given the distaste for email, I'd amend that to "They still say, 'I'll text you'" but otherwise that scans very nicely. Fortunately, those old songs allow one to glide over the awkward phrases.
Happy new year to you and meade as well, ann, and to all the right (as in correct)-thinking commenters here (you know who you are)!
It's odd that the right-thinking commenters think differently from the bien pensants.
Why did they both dress like Ruth Bader Ginsberg?
@EDH - Maybe they are into cosplay. Who are we to judge?
I predict they will both be single again in 24 months.
I loved reading the NYT article about you and Meade. I think I started following you around the 2008-2009 time frame.
It hit me as very funny reading and seeing Meade referred to as “Mr. Meade” in the article . . . I know Meade is his last name, but it has almost become a “one-word” name, so seeing “Mr. Meade” made me laugh. No disrespect meant to Meade.
I am a follower from Madison who introduced myself to you and Meade on the Southwest bike trail a few years ago. Needless to say I was excited to run into you!
Happy New Year!
Just started reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, about that same neighborhood. I don't want to mess up the picture of Williamsburg that Betty Smith is painting by looking at the video. Besides, it might give away the ending.
The book is about the de-gentrification of the Williamsburg brownstone, at least as far as I have gotten. Might make a nice ironic movie!
Brownstones with an 's' autocorrect!
500,000 hits/month then? What is it now? There must be a vast pool of folks who read but never comment.
Anyway, the title reminds me of a Bogart movie. Alas, it was black and white, so kids under 30 won't watch it...
I was not aware of the background between you and Meade, but I very much enjoyed reading the article (don't say that often wrt a NYT article.) Your story would make a good movie if developed by the right script writer and properly cast. (Maybe you could get Meade to play Meade?) Anyway, I'm very happy for both of you.
Rodney Dangerfield and Sally Kellerman.
Meade --
I'm shocked, shocked to find commenting going on here!
Your replies, sir.... oh, thank you!
Post a Comment