Sunday, August 02, 2009

Eddie Izzard & Twitter

I've been following Eddie Izzard's tweets on Twitter.( I'll never feel comfortable using those silly terms!) Eddie is currently on a marathon run around the UK, for charity. He aims to cover more than 1000 miles in 7 weeks, at a rate of about 30 miles each day. For some athletically inclined personalities this might not be a daunting prospect, but it's said that Eddie started running seriously only 4 weeks before his marathon for charity began.

Yesterday he posted a photograph of his arrival in Wales.



Eddie, for me, will forever be "The Celebrated Mr. Kite", after having seen his performance in "Across the Universe". There has never been, and will never be, a better representation of that character.



Eddie has Sun in Aquarius - more than Sun though, he's one of those people born when a large cluster of planets bundled into the sign of Aquarius, in early 1962. Astrologer Barbara Palliser wrote about Eddie's natal chart in her blog, here, Silverwheel Astrology, some while ago.

It's interesting that this very Aquarian Aquarian is attempting something quite excessive and travel-related at a time when Jupiter (planet of excess and travel) is conjoined with Neptune (planet of dreams and imagination) in Aquarius.



I'm still experimenting with Twitter, without much enthusiasm, it has to be said. Input from people like Eddie Izzard is always worthwhile though. The "social" networking bit tends to get lost in most cases. Well-known people have too many followers for them to be able to take notice of messages and responses sent to them - so it becomes a one-sided affair. On the whole it's just dissemination of information, rather than a social network. But that has its uses, I guess.

Whereas I enjoy and learn from preparing my blog posts, whether comments result or not, the same cannot be said for Twitter posts. These tend to have a cold and empty feel to them - whether via input or output.

Jury's still out.

21 comments:

Laura said...

Eddie is funny. I really enjoyed him in Ocean's Thirteen.

Ron Southern said...

I would suppose that people who don't have much to say, even when they have all day to say it, may be greatly impressed with Twitter and able to benefit from it (insofar as it lets you brush off or brush aside a lot of your acquaintances at once).

Jacqueline Bigar said...

Hi Twilight
:
Could you pop back and give me all your planets and signs in order??? I did them twice...ah...

You left out Venus, my Arian friend. Interesting as you are so Venusian.

How I interpert that Pluto/mars I think you will like.

Love,
Jacquie

Twilight said...

Laura ~~~ I didn't realise he was in that movie - I've been avoiding watching it up to now. I liked the original O's 11 so much with my favourite, Sinatra, in it. ;-)
I'll watch next time it comes up on HBO.

Twilight said...

R. Southern ~~~ Hi Ron!
Yes, the brush-off isn't a good feeling if on the wrong side of it.
We grow a thick skin though, don't we - and an obtuse urge to retreat -at least that's what we water-bearers tend to do. Playing at Pied Piper from either a follower or followed perspective isn't truly our thing. ;-)

Twilight said...

Jacquie - Been and done it. Thank you! :-)

Ron Southern said...

I'm sure Twitter has some use. Even if I were only younger, I might have found a use for it. But I don't think I need to communicate with my friends and other known parties MORE often than with my blog! And my "friends" don't want to Tweet to anyone, period, as far as I can tell. It bothers me to already be over the hill and out of the loop at my age, but everybody I know is similarly disabled and distant.

Twilight said...

R.Southern ~~~ I don't think we'll ever be out of the loop as long as we can log on to the internet and input something - anything.
The bits and pieces such as Twitter, Facebook etc. we choose to by-pass are neither here nor there in the great scheme of things.

So many of my past acquaintances and friends, back in the UK, have no interest in learning to use a computer, so I feel quite avant garde ...lol!

There are very few of my own age group around in cyberland though. Sometimes I feel a bit out of place, and wonder if should leave it as a playground for the young and early middle aged. Then I think WTF - I'm as entitled as anybody to take advantage of what there is available, and I can keep up with most of 'em. ;-)

Ron Southern said...

What can I say, except to agree! You make my timbers shiver, but I'm conscious of being slower than I was, not only five years ago, but one year ago! I wonder sometimes what happened to my sense of humor--possibly it's under a concrete sidewalk somewhere around here!

Twilight said...

Ron~~~ Well, health problems are no laughing matter, and even without them, the current scene isn't very funny - or it is, in the USA, but only ironically.

anthonynorth said...

I sense a softening to Twitter :-)
In the main, you are Tweeting to no one, but occasionally you strike something. For instance, I once had a 20+ Tweet debate over a single Tweet. Linking to my blog occasionally hits gold, with someone reading it and Stumbling it on Stumbleupon. That resulted in some 200 hits. I suppose it's a little like cold calling, and can lie at the beginning of a chain to a larger audience.

Regarding Eddie Izzard, he perplexes me. I have never enjoyed his humour in stand-up, but in interview he's funny and likeable, and his acting is excellent.

Wisewebwoman said...

Eddie is a one-off, I totally enjoy his life journey and I too loved him in Across the Universe.
As to tweeting and twitting, I think it is a tool embraced by the young. My daughter finds it outstanding as a way of communicating with others in her field and pooling resources and info regularly, whereas my generation as a little behind the 8 ball - some are not even on FB. Blogging, I find, is a well-used tool of seniors, I so enjoy reading others of my age group. We are more into the sloooow rather than the instant, T. I much prefer it.
XO
WWW

Twilight said...

AN ~~~ You're one of the people who've been able to use Twitter to advantage. I'm glad. I can see that your type of subjects could easily spark a conversation (which I like to take part in via your blog). My main blog subject, astrology, is such a fringe interest that I tend to avoid even mentioning it on Twitter. Anything I have to say is said here, on the blog, where people know what to expect and don't visit if the subject isn't their cup of tea.

the astrology tweets are simple leads to blogs or information as to where the moon is on a certain date, etc. Mainly pro astrologers, of which I'm not one.

I'll wander around in the Twitter shallows for a while longer.
I don't give up easily. ;-)

Re Eddie - I sense that he has evolved quite abit over past 5 years or so. I find his comedy interesting but not roll-around-laughing type stuff. He has potential as an actor though, a chat show presenter. that would suit him.

Twilight said...

WWW ~~~ Agreed on Eddie.

You're right about Twitter being mainly for the young who have grown up surrounded by technology -an ever growing technology too.

I don't like Facebook, not because I couldn't handle it skill-wise, but because I find it even more narcissistic (and somewhat creepy) than other on-line networks - blogs, and Twitter even. No reflection on those who enjoy it, it's just the way I feel and I'm possibly dead wrong on that score.
I got an unpleasant feel to it as soon as I opened an account and started out - so I deactivated it at once. At heart, I'm not a social animal - that could be the core of my dislike of FB. ;-)

Jacqueline Bigar said...

Twitter is very cool in some instances. There is the ability to send a personal message across, which my kids, who are grownup do.

For instance, my son who had done in his Dad's brand new Honda, the day he got his lisence in a rain storm, where a street became a creek, which caused Geoffrey to panic and open the door....$8,000
dollars later....

some 17 years later, His Dad backed into Geoffrey's New red flashy car, and oh well....at that point Geoffrey twittered me, and I was right there with the hilarious comments and scene.

I loved it. I was there, 3,000 miles away. They loved it too.

I believe also you really do need to choose your followers etc. so when you go in, someone knows you. I have also learned to see what key people share about their day.

I am not sure I like it for business.

Twilight said...

Jacquie ~~~ I do appreciate its uses, similar to those you describe. In years past I might have found a similar use, when my own family were alive and well.
It's good that it does serve many of its fans very well.

I suspect that, initially, one really needs a ready-made group of people to follow/be followed, ones who are already known - then build on it. those who move over from Facebook will have such a group, I suppose.

I'm trying to get into the swing, and so far finding it useful only for bits and pieces of information which fly past. Better than nothing at all though.
:-)

Ron Southern said...

Have you tried "nothing at all"? Hell, you might like it! But then, you might like walking down the street naked (until the cops nab you).

Twilight said...

R.Southern ~~~ LOL! Well as it happens I, just moments ago, had my mouse hovering over "Delete my account" at Twitter, but decided to let it dangle there a while longer. It demands nothing of me, and costs now't. One of these days though, when the next herd of on-line "ladies of the cyber-night" add themselves to my followers, the Delete button will get well and truly pressed.

Naked street-walking not good in SW Okie-land, Ron. Skeeters and sun stroke prime detractors.....not to mention the Baptists. ;-)

Ron Southern said...

I always thought that baptists and mosquitoes couldn't see in the dark. Of course, Baptists can't see in the daytime, either--I know because I used to be one and am still surrounded by them (it'd be safer if they were Wild Indians who only want your scalp!). All my Indians were told to "keep on movin'" and that's how so many of them got to your OK and how we only have Casino Indians around here! I think my father's mother's side of the family had Cherokee mixed in with their white-trash bloodline, so I guess you're lucky I wasn't "moved on" to OK before you got there--I'm sure I woulda messed up the neighborhood!

Twilight said...

R.Southern ~~~ The more bits of Cherokee and any other Native blood, the better ! We have the casinos arounf here too, doing good business by the look of the carpark areas at any time of day. I'm glad.
And they deserve a lot more.

What we need now is a Trail of Baptists sent on their way to Alaska........bet somebody will be offended.

Sorry.

Ron Southern said...

If you need Baptists to be offended, send 'em my way. I relish the notion and luxuriate in the effort! Crucify them all, I always say. At least, until we can do something more imaginative to them.