to move up and down
Amanda Bynes’ Twitter pics: Her ‘selfies’ are A Picture of Dorian Gray for the digital age
The erratic behaviour and possessiveness former child-turned-teen-starlet Amanda Bynes has over her image is relative to — if not updated for the sake of contemporary measure — literary narcissist Dorian Gray. While the character of Oscar Wilde’s sumptuous and sardonic story was slightly more tragic than our modern-day Twitter heroine, it does tap into a rising tension between the representations we create of ourselves versus that which society largely expects of a person. We all inherently possess a narcissism like that, particularly in a time when we’ll Instagram our meal or outfit of the day and hashtag it to gain more likes, more validation. (Twitter)
Hacker tweets fake White House attack using Associated Press account, Dow Jones drops 150 points
Hackers have compromised the main Twitter account of The Associated Press, sending out an erroneous tweet about an attack at the White House.
The tweet, which said that there had been two explosions at the White House and President Barack Obama was injured, came after hackers made repeated attempts to steal the passwords of AP journalists.
The AP said Tuesday that its Twitter account had been suspended following a hack and said it was working to correct the issue. (AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGANMANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
It’s the end of…
Gary Clement’s week in review
Lance Armstrong deletes Tour de France titles
Having won seven Tour de France titles is no longer part of Lance Armstrong’s Twitter profile.
As late as Monday night, Armstrong’s bio on the social media site included a mention of his seven Tour wins from 1999-2005, but reference to the race was removed hours after he was stripped of the titles by the International Cycling Union and banned from the sport for life for his involvement in what the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency described as a massive doping program.
Early Tuesday, Armstrong’s profile said: “Raising my five kids. Fighting Cancer. Swim, bike, run and golf whenever I can.” Previously, the profile said: “Father of 5 amazing kids, 7-time Tour de France winner, full time cancer fighter, part time triathlete.”
This year’s Sheridan illustration program graduates are part of a new movement. Illustrationism is a collaborative effort that encourages illustrators and admirers to document and share their work through social media. Using the hashtag #illustrationism, illustrations are captured in an ever-growing online platform where the content creates and forms the concept ‘Illustrationism.’ See the grad exhibit for yourself April 19 at 99 Sudbury St. in Toronto. For more, visit illustrationism.com.
Justin Bieber Twitter prank backfires
Justin Bieber is facing a potential lawsuit after pulling a practical joke on Twitter. Earlier this week, the Canadian pop star reportedly tweeted a fake phone number with the message, “Call me right now.”
Now, two Texans, identified as Dilcie and Kent, are considering legal action after they began to receive “thousands of phone calls each day,” as excited Bieber fans heeded the tweet.
Twitter to censor content in some countries
Twitter announced Thursday that it would begin restricting Tweets in certain countries, marking a policy shift for the social media platform that helped propel the popular uprisings recently sweeping across the Middle East.
“As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression,” Twitter wrote in a blog post published Thursday.
Twitter gave as examples of restrictions it might cooperate with “certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content.”
A Twitter spokeswoman declined to elaborate on the blog.
“Starting today, we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country while keeping it available in the rest of the world,” the Twitter blog said.
Twitter’s decision to begin censoring content represents a significant departure from its policy just one year ago, when anti-government protesters in Tunisia, Egypt and other Arab countries coordinated mass demonstrations through on the social network and, in the process, thrust Twitter’s disruptive potential into the global spotlight. (Brett Gundlock/National Post)
AnnaLynne McCord tweets topless photo to fan
McCord, who Tweets under @IAMannalynnemcc, isn’t wearing much more than a pout in an image she recently posted to the site (and subsequently removed), and messages on the actress’ feed suggested that the picture was sent to a seemingly random fan, a Colorado girl Tweeting under @Meganraee.
Kanye West went on a three-hour Twitter rant, and we transcribed the whole thing
“I was just discussing becoming the creative director for the Jetson movie and someone on the call yelled out.. you should do a Jetsons tour! This just happened a few hours ago. I was very insulted of course becuase for anyone that’s seen the Watch the Throne Tour… Or Coachella or Glow in the Dark or Runaway.. you know I have real ideas… I appreciate having the most nominations at the Grammies but I feel so conflicted by the fact that award shows sometimes are completely… …illogical Good logic tells me smile Kanye… the world likes you again… red or blue pill? … aaaaand Swallow”
When hip-hop artists cry
This past September, just two months before Drake was set to release his highly anticipated sophomore album Take Care, the Toronto rapper was trending on Twitter. Unfortunately for him, it had nothing to do with his album, and everything to do with why he cried.
#DrakeCriesWhen, which is still piling up tweets, cites reasons taken directly from his lyrics (“#DrakeCriesWhen he runs out of bubble bath and scented candles,” for instance) to the absurd (“#DrakeCriesWhen his socks are too tight”). While it was one of the funnier Twitter memes of 2011, the rapper clearly took offence, telling GQ in November, “People always act like I spend my life crying in a dark room. I don’t, I’m good.”
But whether or not Drake actually cries when his socks are too tight is not the issue. What made the meme so touchy is that hip hop has very few rules, one of them being that rappers are “hard,” meaning they show little emotion — and they certainly don’t cry.
Miley Cyrus’ breasts are real, and they’re spectacular
Rarely, if ever, do the worlds of Seinfeld and Miley Cyrus intersect, but when it comes to the former Hanna Montana star’s busting bosom, perhaps the best explanation is the one Teri Hatcher offered to Jerry. But we’ll get to that.
The reason Cyrus’ Hanna and Montana were in the news is their surprising reveal on the red carpet of Sunday’s CNN Heroes 2011 ceremony, where the 19-year-old displayed them in a revealing yellow Roberto Cavalli dress. The appearance caused enough of a hubbub that Star magazine turned to three breast augmentation experts to get their professional opinion on the matter.
Eventually, Cyrus took it upon herself to take the matter chest on:
“Thank you for the compliment but these babies are all mine,” she tweeted. “I wish they’d realize you don’t have to be fake to be beautiful!”
Paulina Gretzky, daughter of hockey great Wayne, shuts down racy Twitter account
Paulina Gretzky, the party-girl daughter of hockey great Wayne Gretzky, has closed her racy Twitter account.
The 22-year-old’s account was littered with provocative pictures of her partying and wearing revealing clothing.
“Having a nice sit down dinner with my dad about social media..haha,” Paulina Gretzky tweeted last week before closing her account.
Raffi Torres Halloween costume shows some people have a lot to learn
Paul Bissonnette, the Phoenix Coyotes forward who has become a Twitter celebrity as @BizNasty2point0, who has over 150,000 followers, put a picture of his Coyotes teammate Raffi Torres and his wife in their Halloween costumes as Jay-Z and Beyoncé. They had coloured their skin to appear black.
This, unfortunately, is a practice traditionally known as blackface. It wasn’t the shoe polish Al Jolson used to wear, but Torres painted himself to look like an African-American. And historically, that carries a weight.
Graphic: Follow the tweets of the Occupy movement
The Occupy movement began with a single tweet from Adbusters and has grown to more than 550,000 Twitter posts from around the world. Take a look to see where the hotspots are.
Graphic: Voters care little about platforms, controversies in Ontario election, Twitter shows
If the war of the words online is any predictor of the upcoming Ontario election, this campaign will likely come down to which leader seems most trustworthy, with the party platforms and political missteps virtually ignored by voters.
Words like “lie” and “tax” have stuck to both Liberal Dalton McGuinty and Conservative Tim Hudak throughout the campaign thanks to the parties’ aggressive online attacks, an analysis by the National Post of nearly 200,000 tweets about the Ontario election has found.
