Friday, February 02, 2001

Legends Of The Internet


Over on the Underground, this quote from the mighty Joe Zenith (heh—when I say it that way it makes me sound like the Eyeball Kid) cuts to the heart of something:
When I was young, I used to think up stories about myself and my friends in which we were in superheroes, for want of a better world. Not capes and masks, but people who could do magic or had amazing powers or could spin their guns in a cool manner and never missed a shot. Everyone was the hyperdeluxe version of themselves: as sexy and smart and pop sci-fi as they wanna be. That's how I visualise the people here.
...and that's the nature of Internet celebrity, right there. Self-mythologizing, fictionsuits, call it what you will—it goes back to the beginnings of computer culture: hackers turned the mundane, sedentary, worker-bee act of writing code and turned it into a martial art—Kevin Mitnick's famous declaration that "My kung fu is the best." And if tough-guy posturing can apply to that shit, it can apply to anything.

In that spirit, I give you the first in a series, each one a Legend In His Own Mind: ladies and gentlemen, the Elvis of Typography—Mr. Chank Diesel.

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