Why are local scenes so split? Not to say there aren't people who venture to other scenes in the city, but the majority stays put in their comfort zone. I could make this point for most music scenes in the city, but I'll stick to Hip Hop since that's what the column's title tells me this is about.  

One thing I've learned to be careful of is killing an opportunity before you've even studied and realized exactly what it is. Social networking promotions and building is a chess game, not checkers: It's not about the immediate victory as much as it is the one three steps ahead.   

Most individual MySpace profiles include such necessary personal information as TV and movie interests, religion, sexual orientation and links to "MySpace friends," other users linked together through an extensive web of faux social interaction. It's become a popular tool for grassroots organizations and independent musicians, who use the site for cheap and convenient networking. This year some city council candidates are using it as a campaign tool, but few are all that popular in Interland.   

Once upon a time kids played board games not Webkinz. "E-mail" was a buzzword, and perhaps just as notably "buzzword" was a popular term. "Cyberspace" was another - a term affirming the distinction between the Internet and the "real world." This distinction is now obsolete.