The internet is a funny place. There were the MySpace days. People taking overhead shots of themselves. Duck faces. Emo haircuts. A song as a status update. Then came Facebook. Music, videos, thoughts, notes, news being shared amongst “friends”. Twitter was the next big one. Seemed kind of mundane; like the first time you heard of the iPad. I guess we were wrong. The power of such a system is now apparent. 

About a year ago, I was having drinks with a painter. He confessed having come across the new social internet phenomenon. Still in the works, yet, something new. Chat Roulette (invented and coded by a 17 year old kid in Russia). Just like the gambling game involving a revolver, you pretty much are at the mercy of luck and the unknown. It was bound to happen. Most people have a camera. Most people search for thrills. Most kids spend evenings where they bum around their living room with friends on a Friday night, playing video games, eating Dominos pizza, smoking pot and looking for a mindless “something to do”. Millions of bored souls, looking to make a random connection, even if it’s for a few seconds. 

Everyday, we are exposed to new faces on the street. This is sort of that, but in the comfort of your own home and with a computer screen and miles separating. The idea of facing someone completely by the luck of the draw and deciding with the click of a button when you will never see them again, preserving complete anonymity seemed quite fresh, scary, interesting…a social experiment worth pursuing…maybe. As predicted, lots of people used Chat Roulette as a vehicle for their own personal exhibitionism, pornography and idiocy. And as with everything online, for every moronic action, there was a creative one. A certain Merton began improvising music/songwriting with whomever would suddenly appear on his video feed. It was sweet, cute and highly entertaining and one of the most charming internet sensations of last year (search “chatroulette piano improv” on YouTube to see what I’m talking about). 

I believe it was short lived. No one speaks of the Russian web invention anymore. A fad. Maybe an eventual comeback? Who knows. But whatever your opinion may be, I always enjoy seeing something positive come out of new social experiments like this. When hearing about the website, I initially winced. However, I knew someone was eventually going to put it to good use.

As you can see, I decided to try for myself and have a little fun of my own. I even ended up meeting some guy dressed up as a giant banana. Ah the internets!