Wednesday
Germane to Michael Jennings' post below pertaining to Prince's declaration that the "Internet is completely over", I had a brief conversation with a decidedly winsome 20-something young lady, elegant yet edgy (she was a cut glass accented thoroughbred Sloane Ranger wearing 'All Saints'). She was sitting in a sandwich shop in a well-heeled part of town... expensive Apple laptop open as she availed herself of the free WiFi whilst having luncheon...
The following really happened, serious, not joking.
Samizdata Illuminatus "Did you read that Prince thinks the 'Internet is completely over''? He refuses to release any of his music on it at all"20-Something-Young-Lady "Really? Umm... I did not even know he was a musician."
SI "Well, yes...he is. He is one of the great guitarists of our time."
20-S-Y-L "Hah, that's funny! I cannot picture that old foggy playing a guitar! I thought he just spent his time playing polo, messing with architects and hugging trees..."
SI "No, no, no, not Prince Charles... "
20-S-Y-L "Prince William? No, I am sure you must mean Harry! Oooo! Yummy Harry with a guitar!"
SI "No, the American musician called 'Prince'."
20-S-Y-L "Oh, I see. And this chap calls himself 'Prince'? That's hilarious!"
SI "He used to call himself 'Squiggle'."
20-S-Y-L "I'm sure I've never heard of him."
SI "I suddenly feel very... old'."
20-S-Y-L "I'll download something of his off Bit Torrent and see if he's any good."
I do not believe she immediately grasped the sheer transcendent irony of the moment.
To be fair, when I first saw the "Prince says Internet is over" headline in www.telegraph.co.uk, the first thought that crossed my mind was: "Charles is at it again!" But then I realised that not even HRH would be that thick.
New slogan for the P2P community:
"Bittorrent: everyone is doing it!"
Posted by Frederick Davies at July 7, 2010 12:54 PM
But then I realised that not even HRH would be that thick.
Really?
Posted by Michael Jennings at July 7, 2010 01:05 PM
Duh! Transmission is a much better torrent client for the mac.
Irony and sarcasm are wasted on Sloanes.
Posted by Hektor at July 7, 2010 02:08 PM
I think Bit Torrent has been Hoover-ised Hektor, as many people speak of Bit Torrent when in fact they are using something quite different.
And I am rather partial to Sloanies :-)
Posted by Perry de Havilland at July 7, 2010 02:45 PM
True Sloanes with a connection to the countryside are alright, but townie sloanes (Notting Hill or Fulham, went to London day school, etc.) are so vapid and up themselves. As opposed to just up themselves. But I they do look nice.
Posted by Hektor at July 7, 2010 03:00 PM
Suffice to say I live very close indeed to Ranger Ground Zero and I do not agree with that characterisation at all, Hektor.
Posted by Perry de Havilland at July 7, 2010 03:04 PM
In which respect? I would say in very General terms and from My experience, that 100% townie Sloanes are much more in to drugs and much less tolerant of others / stuff that isn't cool and can't see further than the end of NKR. It may just be the Sloanes that I know and have come across.
Posted by Hektor at July 7, 2010 03:53 PM
It may just be the Sloanes that I know and have come across.
Indeed.
Posted by Perry de Havilland at July 7, 2010 04:08 PM
That doesn't answer my question, Perry. I also live very close to SS and know and have met hundred of Sloanes. So maybe it's the ones that you know...!
Posted by Hektor at July 7, 2010 04:20 PM
What an interesting post, on several levels. Prince is "one of the great guitarists of our time"? Who knew? Personally, I'm not particularly fond of his ouvre. And who knew that he was still recording anything, let alone that he wasn't distributing it via the internet? And does anyone really consider his pronouncements to be relevant in any context?
And I had never before come across the term "Sloane Ranger". Somewhere between preppies and Valley Girls, from what I can glean. Thanks for the link; I learned something today.
Posted by Laird at July 7, 2010 05:15 PM
bitTorrent is the protocol, anyway - and who uses anything but uTorrent?
The real question, however, is why anyone cares about Prince at all?
(Laird: I don't care for Prince's music either, but musicians seem to be in accord that he's a good player of the guitar.)
Posted by Sigivald at July 7, 2010 06:27 PM
I prefer rtorrent, running in a screen session, somewhere bandwidth is cheap (not NZ).
But surely she meant youtube for sampling?
Funnily enough the highest rated comment on the first video I found was "The internet is dead":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJfhGL0F6LE
Posted by Bruce Hoult at July 7, 2010 07:57 PM
"It may just be the Sloanes that I know and have come across."
Some years since I have.
Insert joke about the opportunity costs of marriage here.
Posted by Tim Worstall at July 8, 2010 09:31 AM
Didn't someone post (on a loo wall in those pre-blog days):
NIETZSCHE IS DEAD - GOD
Princes in this world take note.
Posted by RRS at July 8, 2010 07:31 PM
"Prince is calling!"
This is entertaining and worth the time. It explains a lot. At the end, you'll understand why this is utterly predictable. Kevin Smith on Prince.
Posted by mezzrow at July 9, 2010 01:04 AM
The Beatles are still more popular than Jesus, too....what's left of 'em.
Posted by Jewel at July 12, 2010 07:05 AM
