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On the Web
The Internet blogging community known as MySpace is usually the province of teenagers who visit each other’s sites the way previous generations visited each other’s rec rooms after school. But ever since late July, there’s been someone on that hip, hot site claiming to be 100 years old. This special someone has amassed, at last count, 70 "friends" – web users who regularly stop by to cyber-hang and leave messages. The alleged centenarian has a vested interest in The Tram and in getting a pizza place back on Main Street, and enjoys listening to the not so gentle (but quite catchy) strains of Punched in Da Mouth, a rap song by the Queens-based group Chronikill. "Punched in Da Mouth" blares from the site the minute you type www.myspace.com/rooseveltisland in your browser and hit the ENTER key. The new MySpace resident is none other than Roosevelt Island itself – or at least some anonymous fan speaking in first-person on the Island’s behalf. "I am The Rock," it writes by way of introduction, "a little Island in the middle of the East River. I am about two miles long and 800 feet wide." This mystery patron uses the site to extol the virtues of such things as the return of the Tram and the opening of the Octagon to renters. "I have gotten a bunch of messages from people who want to know who I am," writes the Internet voice of the Island. "It doesn’t matter. Let’s suffice it to say I’m a lifelong Roosevelt Islander who wanted to create a place for everyone from The Rock to find each other. I don’t want credit for this, just looking to bring some RI pride to MySpace." As Punched in Da Mouth gains steam (sample refrain: "Ya really wanna know why you get punched in da mouth?"), scroll down to the messages left by "friends" of The Rock. Like the site’s creator, these friends – that really is the technical term for visitors to MySpace enclaves – prize youthful zest over grammar and spelling: "Yo yo whats this rage? whats new R izzy i havent been on you for a wile. ill see you soon!" – Cobra Carbonetti "Is it me or is this Island getting overcrowded by Yuppies lately?" – Marco "Haven’t been on the Island in a minute … but i heard the freakin pizzeria shut down! What!!" – from a woman who gives her identity as "Anyone order pig feet?" "The Tram is back, I love it!!! No more stupid F train" – IgnoranceIsChris The Rock encourages cyber-visitors to test each other on Island-related trivia. "Oooohh, aren’t you a smart little Roosevelt Islander!!" writes ‘Lil Kim Jung Ill after one question is answered correctly. "Well here’s an even harder one for you bitches: What famous author visited Octagon in the mid-1800s but cut his visit short because he said the condtions were too horrible???" Someone named Alex responds: "Oh man thats easy, Charles Dickens … BITCH!" Although the actual author of the breezy website won’t come forward, a "friend" named Kate has her suspicions as to the author’s identity. Some of her suspicions we have corrected for spelling and grammar: "I am very curious about who set this up," she writes. "As I don’t list Roosevelt Island in my profile, it must be someone who [typed in] my name to find me, someone in their 20s, someone who was in the Main Street Theater company during its heyday." The next trivial question, perhaps, for The Rock: Who are you, really?
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