I’m not a soccer fan, so my World Cup experience this year was limited to friend’s Facebook status updates — so, so many of them — and random online news reports.
A team won. (I’m almost certain.) But the true breakout star of the games was without a doubt…the vuvuzela horn. The Dr. Suess-inspired design. That god-awful, annoying buzz.
You didn’t even have to watch a match to hear it.
After a cartoonist jokingly proposed ways to reinvent the horn — a dunce cap, a pipe — two South Africans staged an international design competition to reinvent the much maligned musical instrument.
The event began in July. Over 150 designs were submitted to a panel of seven judges. And the winner is….
A pair of earrings.
Okay. Sure, they’re kinda cute. I like hoops as much as the next gal. And the colors are fun.
But are they, like, the most amazing design on the planet?
No.
But here’s why I think they won the vuvuzela redesign competition.
Can the vuvuzela make any noise in this new configuration? No. Can you get any sound from those three independent dangling hoops? Maybe, if there’s a stiff breeze blowing, you might get a clank or two, but I don’t think you’ll ever hear another buzz or moan from those puppies.
And that’s why those earrings beat out entries like the vuvuzela Christmas tree. It’s pretty, but that sucker could still make noise if someone got a little lickered up at the holiday party.
Am I right?
You know I’m right. And no one needs to hear that noise.
Ever. Again.
)
Virtual reality
Waiting for a refrigerator to be delivered to my apartment in Boston — that’s where I was on September 11, 2001.
Last night I was watching, appropriately enough, The Killing, on AMC, when tweets and Facebook status updates hinted of an upcoming presidential address.
I never dreamed it would be the death of Osama Bin Laden.
For me, it’s more interesting how.
In 2001, the television networks were my primary news source. I sat huddled in my apartment, told to remain there by my employer and by the city of Boston, my television set my only real connection to the tragic events in New York City and Pennsylvania.
Last night, I learned as much on Facebook and Twitter as I did on the television networks. Obama’s announcement at 11:35 served only as a more eloquent confirmation of what I had already gleaned from my own sources.
Bin Laden was dead.
Although I was alone on my couch in both instances — a decade apart — I definitely felt a real sense of community last night. Yea, Facebook! Yea, Twitter! Yea, Texts!
Bin Laden is dead.
“I have never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.” — Mark Twain
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