Oxford itself pronounced "selfie" Word of the Year in 2013. I'm sure you know what selfies are, but in case you are a newborn baby or a sentient plant (in either case, congratulations for learning how to read!), here's the run-down: a selfie is a picture you take of yourself, usually using your camera phone. However, the stereotypical selfie consists of a teenage girl smirking at herself in the bathroom mirror, holding her phone out in front of her, and snapping a picture, which she usually posts immediately to the social media site (or sites) of her choice. Usually after adding a glamorous filter, so she looks smoother-skinned and tanned. This is a small taste of the many filters she could add:
filters!
(
SHH. Confession time: Before you get the wrong idea, know that
I take selfies too, but fortunately, I don't post them online, as they are hideous creatures to be stored deep in my computer under misleading file names--seen only when I search for my Photoshop projects and realize scary_vampire_girl.jpg is actually me--and would give people nightmares. So no, dear reader, you will never get to see a selfie of me. Shame, I know you like all things horror.)
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Why in the bathroom, though?? I mean, I know you want to see yourself in the bathroom mirror to make sure your duck face is FANTABULOUS, but seriously, it's like, "Oh, better make sure you can see the sink, because it's so gorgeously shiny, and the toilet, because it's such a boss at being a porcelain throne, it deserves a throne of its own."
Source of this duck face
Of course, there's no law against taking selfies outside of bathrooms. You could, for instance, do this:
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...or not. There
is a law against that. Think of the fine! Although that guy's face never fails to crack me up. Heh heh.
So now that you know what a selfie is, you sentient plant you, you'll get what
Selfeed is all about. Cleverly named, this site will flash you every Instagram photo tagged #selfie as it's posted. It's not the kind of site you could spend hours on (I would be a leetle disturbed and very concerned if you did), but it's interesting, for a few minutes, to watch the never-ceasing real-time flow of self-portraits and to realize what a self-feed one of the most prominent social media sites is. (Dang, did you notice how many dashes were in that sentence?) And you can post a pic to Instagram using your phone while watching for it on your computer screen! Just make sure it's tagged #selfie.
Our second topic today will be the first selfie ever. It's so beautiful, with a duck face and a "sexy" pose and a toilet and oversized sunglasses and a cool filter. It's the very embodiment of a selfie. It's...
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...oh. That. Well, it was taken by Robert Cornelius, a chemist/photographer, in 1839. He took it in the back of a family store--so
not in a bathroom mirror. He's kind of cute, though, dontcha think? And that attitude...well, he just screams "ahead of his time."
Finally, two random points:
- There is a social media app just for selfies. It is called Shots. Here, have it: http://shots.me/
- This is relevant; it's "8 Tips for Taking an Awesome 'Selfie'". I thought it was funny because, quote, "Don't look so serious. Sure, there's something a little weird about seeming like you're laughing and having the time of your life when it's just you and your iPhone, but you know what's weirder? Making a sexy face to your iPhone." It starts to looks like this ----->
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