Yediot Aharonot, Israel 16 june 02
"It's fun to be David Still"
by Uri EdelmanGet to know him: David Still, charming dutch man, 32 years old, consultant in a promising start-up IT company, lives in the "Reality" neighbourhood in the city of Almere which only five decades ago was nothing but sea and today has streets named after film and music stars.
Still lives in a green area in a blue tower with 3 floors inspired by bridge and deck constructions, a weird combination of fictional and ecological architecture. Still had a beautiful childhood, laughs a lot, has good friends, a good income and an interesting life.
Triggering jealousy, hé? From the viewpoint of the inhabitants of the Holy Land, the very normal life of David Still is the embodiement of an israeli dream : static normality, good salary, small concerns, unselfish kindness (? generosity without ulterior motive?), childhood unshadowed by personal loss. Do you know anybody like this in your neighbourhood? That's the reason why you can't refuse his offer to take on his identity.
This very surprising and original website is a combination of a brilliant idea, excellent execution and simple human charm. All of this transforms each surfer into a close friend. Still offers each person in the world the use of his identity, his email, a complete assortment of pre-set letters that he wrote for every purpose and event -from a declaration of separation with his partner who mentally abused him, to letters searching for new workers for his company.
Browsing through the contents of Still's website become an addiction in a few seconds: to help the future users to convince that they are the real David Still he gives away a lot of details about himself, his house, his living area, his youth (including 2 touching stories about his childhood), explanations about his family, his activities, all this accompanied with photos from then till now. Not all of images are of a suitable quality for publication, but after you've seen them all you feel spiritually connected to this nice exhibitionnist man from Holland and everything you want is to swap identity with him here and now: to live in his blue house, to speak dutch like him, to miss his dead grand-parents, to have walks around his Northern Ponds, and if he really insists, to give him in exchange what you will leave here behind, from the Haifa road junction to the Beer-Sheva crossroads.- A wonderful website.