salon.com
It's not yet Leno, but we're getting there.
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I Kiss You!!!!!
A friendly Turkish accordion player
becomes the Net's latest collective craze.
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By Janelle Brown
Nov. 4, 1999 | There are those who
bemoan the "old days" of the Net, when it
sometimes felt like those online were
members in a secret club, where people
shared a common lifestyle, interests and
vision. No more: The Net, we all know, is
home to millions upon millions of people
of all ages, backgrounds, creeds and
colors who have very little in common
except for the fact that they all know how
to use a mouse.
Yet every once in a while, the Net is
struck by a widespread mania, something
that cuts across all borders and hits all
in-boxes. We've already enjoyed the
Hampsterdance, the eerie dancing baby
that made it all the way to "Ally McBeal,"
and that ubiquitous $250 chocolate chip
cookie recipe that has been making the
e-mail rounds for years now.
But the Net's latest craze is not a silly
animation or a practical joke. Rather, it's
an unassuming man who lives in Turkey
and plays the accordion, and who has
suddenly become the most popular guy on
the Net -- at least for the moment.
Early last week, a URL started making the
rounds of mailing lists everywhere. It was
the home page of a Turkish man
identified only as "Mahir." The site greets
visitors with a hearty "Welcome to my
home page!!!!!!!!! I kiss you!!!!!" and
boasts a cornucopia of amusing photos
depicting Mahir with his friends; it
explains in enthusiastic (if somewhat
questionable) English that this "jurnalist"
likes "to take foto-camera (amimals,
towns, nice nude models and peoples)"
and goes on to list his travels (including
such exotic locales as Moldova, Ukraine,
Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia,
Azerbaijan, Georgia and Iran) and his
hobbies. He writes, "I like sex" and offers
an invitation to all potential friends: "Who
is want to come TURKEY I can invitate ...
She can stay my home."
Something about Mahir's home page
tickled the Net's communal funny-bone:
Last Tuesday, when I was first forwarded
the URL by a co-worker, the site counter
boasted 11,000 visitors. By the end of the
day, when I had received the page from
two more friends, it had topped 100,000.
By Monday, when my sister forwarded it
to me, it was topping half a million. And
at last count, Mahir's site reported more
than 700,000 visitors. Not bad for an
anonymous guy from Turkey.
What's so appealing about this page?
Perhaps it's Mahir's guileless desire to
make new international friends (especially
those of the female persuasion). Perhaps
it's his abundant gusto for life -- check out
the pictures of him playing ping pong, the
accordion, and unself-consciously lying
on the beach in a tiny Speedo -- and his
open-armed love of the camera. Or
perhaps it's just his winning appearance:
Tall, skinny, shiny-suited and generously
mustachioed, with perhaps the most
abundant nose since Cyrano de Bergerac.
Mahir's page initially included an e-mail
address and several phone numbers; two
of the phone numbers have since
disappeared. Is he getting messages and
calls from around the world? Hard to tell:
I called the phone number listed and got a
pager message; my one e-mail has gone
unanswered thus far. But Mahir is already
inspiring fan clubs, including one lusty
lover of the "Turkish stud" who put
together an (tongue-in-cheek?) animated
homage inspired by his Web page.
It is, of course, quite possible that "Mahir"
is an invention of some huckster kid with
an intriguing set of photos who wanted to
make fun of foreigners. I like to think that
he is just some homely guy whose dreams
of making new friends online have been
wildly exceeded. Whatever the case may
be, may Mahir live in infamy forever
beside the Hampster, bringing us all
together for a quick giggle one more time.
salon.com | Nov. 4, 1999 |
