Hidden Treasure

David Thorne's The Internet is a Playground is a celebration of the non-sequitur, proof that all things can be simultaneously true when given the cover of the internet. Thorne is the author of the website 27bslash6.com and Playground is an edited assembly of the site's most noteworthy entries. The pieces are either email exchanges between Thorne and various unsuspecting correspondents (e.g. a bossy colleague, the police department, someone inquiring about his for-sale car) or absurdist essays about someone irritating in Thorne's daily life.

Thorne's most famous piece concerns an exchange with Shannon, the receptionist at the branding firm where he works as a designer. She emails him for help making a "Missing" poster for her cat Missy. The subsequent exchange exploits all of the intangible elements of communication that are absent in online interaction. Shannon's only instructions are to make a poster using an attached picture of Missy. Though the subtext will immediately connect to a model of a "Missing" poster we have all seen in numberless variation, Thorne takes advantage of the lack of more specific instruction to indulge himself. /the millions.com