He took a few pics from various angles to be sure he captured all the glory on the plate. I had heard stories of people taking pictures of their meals but thought that this was only a fringe activity but now I have actually witnessed this newest version of technological hedonism.
This hybrid has emerged from a fusion of various social media whose followers have never heard the phrase "too much information".
At the extreme end of this trend are the people sharing every detail of their lives in pixels and txt with such intensity you wonder if they are worried that if they are not online maybe they don't exist. Certainly the marketing hype would like you to think so.
The selfie has become the modern art of noting your existence. If a good time is being had and nobody sees it ... was it actually a good time? Even world leaders do it. Obama's selfie with the Danish Prime Minister at Nelson Mandela's memorial was flashed around a world uncertain whether this was cringe-worthy or simply a sign of the times.
Does the fact that so many selfies are of people when they have had far too much to drink mean something? Does documenting this make the actual remembering of events redundant? Or is it that without the picture there is no proof you were there?
Then there are the ones people take of themselves sans clothing and send to their paramours as a gesture of goodwill. The emerging problem with this concept is that the aforementioned paramour may, unbeknownst to the sender; distribute these images to friends, enemies, strangers and acquaintances across the worldwide web.
This is the selfish use of a selfie and should not be condoned. Even the picture taken of oneself with a chicken on one's head can turn into an albatross that dogs your days for years to come (a well-mixed metaphor does wonders for lousy syntax).
While cleverly disguising a shameless example of naked self-promotion as my own version of a word-based selfie, I am hoping to see lots of you at my gig Sunday evening at the Riverside Grill Bar. There will be some new songs, some old, some borrowed and some blues.
It will be the first time I have played here since moving across to Sydney for two years. In the intervening time, I have performed there and in Europe. I am intending to have a good time Sunday evening and will be bringing the recently acquired cigar box guitar in all its recycled splendour for an outing.
Terry Sarten is once again a Wanganui-based musician, writer and satirista - feedback: tgs@inspire.net.nz or www.telsarten.com
