Cora Venus Lunny, musician
HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU SPEND ON THE INTERNET?
I think a better question would be how often do I
not use the internet! When I'm at home, I'm online all the
time.
WHAT DO YOU USE IT FOR?
Information gathering, promotion and communicating.
I'm addicted to BBC News (news.bbc.co.uk) and Guardian Unlimited (
www.guardian.co.uk). I'm
compulsive about the news. Then for promotion, I have a website (
www.coravenuslunny.com)
and I use MySpace (
www.myspace.com/coravenuslunny). MySpace has been really good -
I've started getting work from it. While a lot of people who
"friend" me are music fans, there are also a lot of bands and
sometimes they need a violinist. As for
communicating, instant messaging is my favourite thing. It
requires so much less commitment than a phone call or e-mail. I use
it to talk to friends down the road or across the Atlantic. I use
the programme Adium so I can be signed into several different
instant messaging accounts at once.
HAVE YOU EVER MADE A PURCHASE ON THE INTERNET?
Yes. Just the other day I bought an external drive from the
Apple Store (
www.apple.com/ie). I used to
buy online all the time, but I realised it was too easy for me, and
now I stay away from it. I once bought a pink Juicy Couture
tracksuit on eBay (
www.ebay.ie) - who knows why? I
think I was into the idea that I was getting a bargain. I've sold
things on eBay, too. I think it's great, but it's addictive, so
I had to nip it in the bud.
HAVE YOU EVER BOUGHT MUSIC OVER THE INTERNET?
I've bought music from iTunes (
www.apple.com/itunes/)
and I've downloaded music illegally, I'm not ashamed to admit. I
use it as a frame of reference. I don't download somebody's entire
back catalogue because I'm a musician, but if I want to check out
what they sound like, I'll download a song or two and then buy the
album.
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU DON'T DO ONLINE?
I don't do online banking. I'm just not convinced
it's secure.
ANY FAVOURITE WEBSITES?
I'm addicted to stupid gossip, so one of my
favourite sites is Go Fug Yourself
(
www.gofugyourself.com).
I also read a lot of random blogs - there's a lot of good
writing out there. I read Quick Little Splinter (
www.quicklittlesplinter.com) and David
Byrne's blog (journal.davidbyrne.com)
IS THERE ANYTHING THAT ANNOYS YOU ABOUT THE INTERNET?
The only thing that annoys me is when I can't have
access to it, or that it's not fast enough.
In conversation with Fiona McCann