An (Extreme) Meditation on our Virtual Times

Sometimes a photo will just sweep you up and take you away:

• When I saw this picture (on my computer) the other night, it almost blew my cozy socks off. To the extent we live so vicariously today, that close to sports, celebrity, politics … as mediated through our little screens — I couldn’t imagine a more ingenious photographic parody of modern times. It’s one thing for us to park ourselves on the couch or the lounger and then feel the reflection of you name it — glamour, power, empathy. (We’re so involved in these projections, who knows what’s real anymore?) But then, for some clever entrepreneurs to leverage our everyday couch sitting circus (and the extreme virtuality that incessantly happens there) into real live extreme sport, how hot is that?

• Then, looking back instead, remember this?

• Hey, did I forget to mention the pajamas?

(photo: Tolga Akmen/Rex Features via Telegraph Pictures of the Day. caption: A man performs a stunt on a couch with wheels during the Nitro Circus show at Earl’s Court, London. Nitro Circus show is led by Travis Pastrana, features top American freestyle riders performing some stunts on motocross motorcycles, along with a host of other machines including ATVs, BMXs, snowmobiles, skateboards and wheelchairs.)

Our take on that #ISIS/#ISIL centerfold: http://t.co/SZe3ujaMLl #photography #terrorism #IS #Iraq pic.twitter.com/kQ6QLsyYdy

— BagNewsNotes.com (@BagNewsNotes) July 2, 2014