getting to know your Cat (cultural event)

Despite the fact that it took a painfully long time to visit and just barely made the deadline, I visited the infamous Cat Stevens/ Yusuf Islam website. Initially, it was confusing as to why this particular man’s site was of valuable student scrutiny, but further examination of the source revealed constructive results. This man and his journey from a seventies icon to a modern son of the world is inspirational. His site offers interesting insight into his journey, and is even peppered with priceless opportunities to purchase his book: An Other Cup: Yusuf. Maneuvering through his gauntlet of a website was both informative as well as highly interactive which kept things interesting.

Upon entering Mr. Steven’s website the main page is composed of his reassuring image as well as a short list of exploring options. The headings: Sing, Think, Give, and Bazaar rest atop an antique box that reads News with the message that the site will be updated to include a thorough diatribe of the man’s, “…legendary music career.” As the viewer is debating which heading to invest in first, they are intrigued by the pounding of music (most decidedly a creation of Mr. Stevens himself), that they had not quite understood before. Deciding to go for the most promising of the bunch, the Sing option, the participant enters this maze with grand expectations.

Instantly, the image on the screen is transformed from a dark and moody café setting to a watercolor, pastel recreation of a bohemian style lounge. Following to the initial disorientation the explorer discovers that the act of dragging one’s mouse over each of the room’s objects produces text that offers links to other facets of the site. In all, there are 12 subsequent links including: Archive, Audio, Video, Shop, Biography, Links, Discography, Gallery, News, Mr. Ho Ho’s FAQ, Register/Member’s Area, and Home. Each of these options can be located by hovering the arrow over a different object composing the room’s decor. In no particular order, the room’s components correspond to each link: TV to video, Chinese doll to Mr. Ho Ho’s FAQ, newspaper to News, window to Links, current self-portrait to Biography, picture frame to Gallery, bongos to Register/Member’s Area, coffee book: Yusuf to Discography, tea cup to Home, record player to Audio, seventies poster to Archive, and clipboard to Shop. All of these subheadings apparently lead to further information about this lyrical hero.

Perusing through these interlocking channels the voyager establishes new venues with which to track the history and background of Mr. Stevens. Further examination of Audio reveals an array of tracks created by Mr. Stevens from the seventies. The Archive option leads to a Cat Stevens archive link to www.majicat.com. Clicking on the Video icon exposes a set of BBC sessions and other discontinued links to Youtube.com clips. Poking Mr. Ho Ho’s cute, robe clad belly renders a poem by Mr. Stevens himself titled, “Chinese Whiskers, by Yusuf Islam.” Finally, once the user has been sufficiently introduced to the past accomplishments of this Cat man, they encounter the clipboard located in the front of the room, or rather the bottom of the screen, and discover that our Mr. Stevens has written a book he calls, “An Other Cup: Yusuf Islam,” which the navigator might purchase if they are so lucky to have money to spare on genius. Clicking on the Home icon of a tea cup is not even an option at this point; we are only half way there!

Continuing on our mission to learn all there is to know about Cats, the News section seems an obvious route to go. News of course reminds the researcher that there is a new, updated site coming to theatres near you. Entering the Gallery opportunity affords one the gift of scrolling through a brief archive of Mr. Steven’s pictures. Links takes the user to links leading to his Myspace, Cat Stevens Archive, and the Shop, Think, Give options. Discography exposes the guest to pictures of Mr. Cat’s album covers which are a pleasant little treat. Eventually, one might stubble upon the Biography section which relates the journey of our Yusuf Islam back to music which apparently was deprived from the world for an excruciating 28 years! Lastly, the scout discovers the Register option which allows the guest to convert to honorary membership of this elite club of masterminds. While I was not entirely sincere about my critique as a whole, I really have never encountered such an interactive site, and might have been more likely to take Cat seriously if his site were not plagued with tacky art.