1/25/07

Book written in txt msg

(surely there are other books which have been created via text messaging...?)

Book written in txt msg
POSTED: 1:17 p.m. EST, January 25, 2007

HELSINKI, Finland (AP) -- A novel whose narrative consists entirely of mobile phone text messages has been published in Finland.
"The Last Messages" tells the story of a fictitious information-technology executive in Finland who resigns from his job and travels throughout Europe and India, keeping in touch with his friends and relatives only through text messages.

His messages, and the replies -- roughly 1,000 altogether -- are listed in chronological order in the 332-page novel written by Finnish author Hannu Luntiala.

The texts are rife with grammatical errors and abbreviations commonly used in regular SMS traffic.

"I believe that, at the end of the day, a text message may reveal much more about a person than you would initially think," said Luntiala, who also is head of a company that keeps databases on people living in Finland.

Sari Havukainen, spokeswoman at Finnish publishing house Tammi, said the company is considering translating the book into other languages.

The taciturn Finns, keen on all mobile gadgets, have wholeheartedly accepted text messages as a tool to communicate even in most private matters.

2 comments:

Linh Dinh said...

Hi mIEKAL aND,

In my "Jam Alerts," to be published in March by Chax Press, I have a poem using SMS language:

HF ICBW BFN

End of day,
Face to face,
Fine by me.

On the other hand,
Over and out,
Just a sec,
I rest my case,
Unpleasant visual,
That stinks!

Girlfriend, boyfriend, best friend,
Never mind, one of these days,
I love you, see you later,
I’m not a lawyer.

Way to go, you’ll be sorry,
Sorry, I could not resist,
Get a life, take your time,
Same place same time,
Sick of me yet? Speak.

So stupid it’s not funny,
To be honest, take care,
Between me and you,
Same stuff, different day,
What’s up? Thanks a lot.

In my "American Tatts" (Chax 2005), I messed with IM:

Pentameters

Umm so 2 days ago we had my mom’s
Services and it was really sad. I
Saw a bunch of people I hadn’t seen
In a long time. My old friend Brittney looked
Pretty hot actually. (I’m just messing
With u Kristen!) So I saw my best friend
Who I haven’t talked to in like a year.
His name is Brenden. We have been best friends
Since we were three. We decided to start doing
More stuff together cus we never see
Each other anymore. He gave a little
Speech thing that made me feel a lot better
And it made me respect him a lot more.
I never realized how emotional
He was. I never saw him break down in
Tears like that and I never really wanted
To see him do that but it shows how much
He cares. Umm I could easily tell that
Kristen liked him. She was staring at his
Crotch the whole time. Umm yeah and I just got
To catch up with everybody and
Kristen got to meet some of my friends. O
We had this big line of pics of my mom
When she was younger and stuff and Brenden
Came up to me and actually told me
“Damn your mom was hot” and I told him back
“Yeah I know.” It felt kind of creepy to
Say that especially cus she’s dead and
She was probably listening to us
And she is my mom but she was pretty
Attractive. So I asked him if she still
Looked like that and was still alive would he
Hit on her and he said yes. Brenden is
Like one of the most honest guys I know
(Just cus he doesn’t really care what people
Think of him) but he never takes care of
Himself. He only takes like five showers
A month and the weirdest thing about that
Is they’re all on the same day. O and he
Has a girlfriend but he says that they’re going
Through “rough times” cus he bit her on the ass.
Y would you bite a girl on the ass? Does
It taste good? Do girls find that erotic
Or pleasurable? Was she constipated
And Brenden was just trying to motivate
Her to get the rest out? O Kristen my
Grandpa says ur a fine young woman and
He says ur quite a catch. I think he ODs
On viagra or horny goat weed cus
He’s like the horniest guy I know and
He’s like 70 or 80. O he
Also said “I’d like to have that bitch buff
My fucking pickle.” Sorry that was just
A joke. Y were u surprised that I knew
The reasons y u wore a skirt? I’m not
That stupid and anyone could realize
The advantages of it. It only
Makes u look less slutty to the parents
So they will be less suspecting but it
Allows easier access. Anyone
With a brain could figure that out. OK I
Better stop typing cus I’m just rambling
On. I’ll go now. I haven’t been able
To sleep lately and it’s really pissing
Me off. P.S. Before u guys go I
Have a joke Q: Why do aliens always
Probe you in the ass? A: Because the
First person ever abducted was a British
Man and they asked him where he would like it
The most and he replied “Up Me Arse. Stick
It Up Me Arse.” And another joke Q:
What’s the difference between a British
Man and a British woman? A: A
British woman has a higher sperm count.
Hahahahaha sorry those r just
Too funny. No offense to any British
Women, just the men.


Linh

Jamba Dunn said...

mIEKAL aND: I played with writing a similar book in IM, but I ws nevr gd enuf @ it. As a replacement for that, I had my students write a paper using the texting language of their choice.

I also tried to get my wife to agree to a cell phone marriage ceremony. The line '...please text now or forever hold your peace' was particularly appealing to me. Of course, there would be connection issues so that we'd eventually end up at opposite ends of the room and facing away from one another.

Linh: the line “I’d like to have that bitch buff My fucking pickle” just made my week. Thank you for that.