I didn’t know yesterday was John Lennon’s birthday until friends on social networking sites started to point me to this latest Google Doodle. Then my mind started its own doodling, from the first Beatles song I was introduced to – it was Hey Jude – to all Beatles references in the Simpsons. As the band broke up before I was born, I can’t even imagine what it must have been like when they peaked. Still, the occasion gave me enough motivation to dig up an old draft and finally write it up (after 2 years!).
Among YouTube stars, there is a Korean boy named Sungha. He was already a well-known music prodigy on YouTube, but his fame took a huge leap when Yoko Ono left a comment to the clip of him playing All You Need Is Love, which was immediately picked up by the Korean mass media.
(Screen captured while writing this post)
Initially, I wasn’t sure how she came to hear about Sungha, nor whether it was really her at all. Nevertheless, Sungha also replied gratefully through his channel. Call me a softie, but I found this little conversation sweet. A conversation between two who otherwise would almost never have met if it hadn’t been for the medium. Oh, I made this sound like the time-travelling mailbox in that Lake House movie, didn’t I?
As I have been saying throughout this blog, part of me is always an Internet idealist. So, after having analysed a collection of YouTube comments for a paper (presented at the recent OII conference), I was mildly depressed. Why? For the reason xkcd once brilliantly illustrated. However, small episodes often suffice to restore your confidence, don’t they? Hmmm, come to think of it, from that perspective, it seems there was ultimately something Beatles about this incident. I have never been a huge fan of the Beatles – I have always been more of an Elvis girl – but what I find great about their music (or at least those songs I know) is that it always makes you feel nice and warm inside.
* Random addendum
I have seen every now and then bloggers relay a task of writing a given number of random facts about themselves. I am sure this is an idea from which Formspring.me was born. Anyway, I don’t think I would have been able to come up with dozens of items – well, I am just not that interesting 🙂 – but here’s one. At one point in my life, I practised impersonations of all Beatles wives and became quite good at some.
Y for Yenndetta 