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Exclusive Interview with Nehal Patel, Creator of Mr. T Ate My Balls
Q: What were some of the first "useless" sites that you remember, that may have influenced you?
The first one I remember is the Beavis and Butt-head EnSUCKlopedia. That could have been the one that helped me realize that even if you put the most useless crap on the internet, people will find it and get a kick out of it. (You mean the internet can be used for something besides porn?)
Q: What are some of your favorite sites today? Why?
I read slashdot a lot, because I'm a geek and I like to keep up on the latest tech stuff. I also check out dilbert (again, because I am a geek, and because it is funny). Amused.com is useful when I get bored at work. It has a lot of silly distractions.
Q: What's good about "useless" sites?
The best thing about "useless" sites is thinking "Someone actually thought of this? And they put it on the web?" Then proceeding to laugh your ass off, and then showing your friends and laughing your asses off together.
Q: What, do you feel, has made your site so attractive/popular to others?
For the very reason I stated earlier... people find themselves asking "What kind of drugs would cause someone to come up with this?" (By the way, I was sober when I made it) Also, its just so silly and irreverent.
Q: Do you consider yourself to be an Internet Pioneer? Starting a trend?
I don't know if I'd consider myself to be an Internet Pioneer. Maybe just started a trend. I mean really - I haven't done anything to revolutionize the way the internet is being used or invented some innovative technology.
Q: What role, if any, do you feel the Internet is playing in terms of Popular Culture? Do you feel this will change, continue to develop as the Internet grows?
The Internet is playing a huge role in Popular Culture. Everywhere you look, the internet is there. Almost every company has a website. Bands and musicians have websites, people trade music online. The Internet has provided a whole new medium for communication - email, chat, and news. The internet is becoming a new avenue for interaction - people share ideas, play games, and make new friends online. I've even heard of people getting married to people they've met online! The Internet will keep playing a bigger and bigger role as the technology becomes a more central part of our lives. I do a majority of my communication online now, and I can see the day when we would consider the telephone (or *gasp* the television?) obsolete.
Q: Do feel it's important to archive/record sites like yours? If so why?
I think its important, if only for sentimental reasons. They are a part of the Internet you don't hear about too often, and often get overlooked. People often see the Internet as a tool. They use it to go shopping, do research, etc. But it is also a creative outlet. It is like a museum, and sites like "Mr.T Ate My Balls" are the exhibits. Only they aren't behind thick pieces of glass or hanging on a wall, they are on your computer monitor (okay, maybe they are behind a thick piece of glass). They are a testament to what the human mind can come up with if you let it wander. You see people documenting the construction of their potato gun or couch-car. You see some really cool or funny stuff that people have come up with - like the sodaconstructor ( http://sodaplay.com/ constructor/index.htm ) or the dialectizer ( http://rinkworks.com/ dialect/ )
Q: In 20 years, where will "Mr. T Ate My Balls" stand in Internet History?
Who knows where "Mr. T Ate My Balls" will be in 20 years? It could be just another site lost among billions of pages that once existed. Or it could recorded in the annals of Internet history as the silly, poorly coded website that gathered a cult following and started one of the first "Internet fads".
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