"Be Scene!"

Much to my dismay, or at least my minor mistrust of social networking sites that cater to a sometimes marginalized subgroup, or could it be my mistrust of a social networking site so shamelessly shilled for on a cable show, I signed up for Our Chart. Let's see -- I have a MySpace page, a Friendster page, Flickr, LinkedIn, and God knows else in addition to this blog. Also I've met a couple of my blog readers in person, so the veil of anonymity is as thin as a bulimic model during fashion week. New York Magazine even wrote about this phenomena in a recent feature, but for some reason Our Chart seems like a leap into the deep unknown.

Quick sidenote for the straights and non-lesbians at home. Our Chart is a site that's billed as a MySpace for lesbians because apparently MySpace wasn't enough to contain us. Oh no. And that would be the end of its description had it not had its genesis on the L Word, a fictional cable show about the "real" lives of six or so Los Angeles based lesbians.

Hence the trepidation.

Actually here's the irrational rationalization of my fears. My stalker exgirlfriend finds me on Our Chart and commences with further stalking. She's already, presumably, found me on MySpace through another friend. So why have a MySpace page et al you ask if I'm afraid of stalkers and severing the last threads of anonymity? Well because I am an internet addict and slightly curious about this whole Our Chart thing.

After some technical difficulties, I signed up and started to fill out my personal-ish info. One of the boxes asked if I'd like to have "aggressive notification of new messages"? What the fuck does that mean? Will Our Chart will be stalking me in true lesbian fashion. Um okay, I guess. Way to keep it real, ladies.

So my review of Our Chart? Well it's not so much a MySpace as an actualization of a concept developed by a fictional television character. The fuctionality of the site is pretty basic -- no music to upload, testimonials, and other MySpace-esqe features. But what it does feature is The Chart, a digital version of the flow chart once drawn on bar napkins to illustrate how my exgirlfriend's exgirlfriend went to college with me and was friends with . . . you get the point. Yes the lesbian pond is small and here's a way to frighteningly realize that we're all connected and we've all slept with each others exes.

Awesome.