Archive for January, 2009
[facebook] free for all »
Friday, January 16th, 2009
I’ve forgone the typical ‘free for all.’ Didn’t notice? Word, thought so. Moving on…
While I don’t personally add applications to my Facebook profile(s), some are all about it. They’re ass deep in “Which Reservoir Dog Am I?” and “All the Places I’ve Been You Haven’t” boxes. Which brings me to the “Whopper Sacrifice.”
Facebook is famous for its cluttered friend lists. Some are still friends with folk they met while filling their URC‘s or those hot girls they met at freshman orientation. (With entire self-tagged albums in bikinis, tagged with “gross” or “fat,” desperate for contradictory comments.)
Why not exploit it? I think the Whopper Sacrifice is a smart concept (read: best they can do; lame). It takes commonality and provides branded incentive to address it. It’s better than the Angry Whopper or [insert recent BK campaign/promotion here] (sans, maybe, the King). And more thoughtful than JCPenney’s “Doghouse.”
Facebook shut it down, citing privacy concerns, and missed the viral publicity. (They have no financial model; you’d think they’d be keen on ideas like this.) The only infringement is a notification to the “sacrificed” they’ve been dumped for a chance at a Whopper, which is different than clearing an inflated friend list.*
For Facebook to take a stand on privacy is hypocritical at best. Their incentive is to make the site more public (promotions, growth) so the bulk of the privacy settings are near-hidden, convoluted to the point of useless (if used at all; not to mention the bugs). The default settings aren’t private.
It’s another in a list of blunders no one remembers. They’ve posted anything you were doing on third-party sites with an opt-out model (because they’re idiots), added the news feed (again, opt-out after backlash) and stupidly redesigned with an option to revert to the old site.
Facebook’s obviously blinded by dumbass so it shouldn’t surprise that they’d miss the whole point of the Whopper Sacrifice. (Is “hope no one realizes we’re inept” a business model?) To think otherwise is Memento-esque.
… Actually, show of hands: before this, how many of you knew about Whopper Sacrifice? Were pissed about the redesign for a week and then forgot how the old one looked? Remember the pre-news feed days? Knew FB and BlockBuster and others are being sued?
Seven, all, none and none of you? Hmm. Well… whatever. Still worth it.
Note: More on the Whopper Sacrifice on I’m Just Sayin’ Show. Inspired by all the projects at PhizzPop last night that were made possible by Facebook’s short-sighted, infringing adaptations.
* The de-friended could easily re-friend the de-friender after s/he’s enjoyed her/his over-sized morsel of near-beef. Whether the now re-friended is subsequently de-friended (again), without their immediate knowledge, is entirely up to the de-friender. (Follow all that? Things got a little rough toward the end there.)
slick »
Thursday, January 15th, 2009
The car, green, or blue, it’s hard to tell in only the glow of the headlights, careens toward us, sliding to the left, fishtailing, running front-end first into the median thirty feet away. It bounces off the concrete, turns sideways and quickly comes to a stop.
My left hand is tight on the wheel and my right is on the shifter, pretending that driving off is an option. Helpless, Girlfriend and I watched as a half-dozen cars swerved and jerked before righting themselves and passed us, some too close for comfort. This car is the first of the unlucky ones.
A car behind it grazes the median as well, unable to find purchase. Traffic behind them stops. The green-blue car pulls backward, into the other lane, and slowly pulls up next to us. He rolls down his window, I respond in kind. (more…)
is everyone doing web-isodes now? »
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009
I mentioned awhile back the whole I’m Just Sayin’ Show thing (still keep up with them; latest episode here ). Then I had a couple QwkThts (I’m so cool) about the lead-up to Jimmy Fallon’s show. (Here are a couple notables with guest stars.)
And now I find out Fred Armisen, with Carrie Brownstein (never heard of her) is rocking over at ThunderAnt. Which has me curious… with it being so easy to make a video and post it online, why do we still have television?
In a quick assessment of my viewing habits, things have moved decidedly interweb-ward. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Online (eight days later). The Office. Online. Flight of the Conchords. Online (awesome). House M.D. Online (eventually). How I Met Your Mother. Online. And of course, The Daily Report. Online, online.
With the pending switch to Netflix and a little broadband I can nix the tube all together. But, as I sit here, I’ve just caught up on On-Demand Six Feet Under and Flight of the Conchords so… that’s all hot air (which, in all honesty, should be expected).
Plus, who doesn’t love a little HGTV or Bravo or Discovery or USA (it’s a place for characters) in the background while doing any number of more important things? Totally worth the inexplicable cost.
how to make money, obviously: »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
I’ll preface this by reminding all of you I’m not a medical expert (or even mildly interested).
There are a lot of conspicuous ideas that make people a lot of money. Like, for instance, creating a dating service online. There are few more obvious than “Full Bar.” (Related: Try and think of a more transparent name without falling into a coma or drooling.)
Stomachs, no matter how morbidly obese or model thin (read: skeletal) you may be, are only so big. They stretch but usually return to their original size. They can’t discern liquid, solid, orange juice, battery acid or stainless steel.
That this guy, Dr. Michael A. Snyder, MD, FACS, is going to make money on something so glaring is depressing. What have we come to? I’m absolutely stunned we’ve grown so complacent in being top of the food chain.
To add insult to ineptitude, he’s dressed in scrubs. Fucking scrubs! What, Mike, your title and introverted demeanor wasn’t enough to convince us you’re a terrible surgeon that takes far too much pride in cutting into obese people? You had to drive it home by wearing your pajamas to your photo shoot/commercial filming?
Here’s my uninformed advice:
- Have a granola bar and large glass of water twenty minutes before your dinner.
- If you’re eating out, eat only half your entree or order an appetizer.
- Consciously eat about half your normal ingested amounts.
- Don’t snack excessively and avoid high-sugar/high-fat foods.
- Never, EVER!, subscribe to some idiot’s nutrition bars for $150+.
- Spend half an hour each day (broken up as you see fit) not sitting on your ass.
- Mail me your thanks in $10 increments for each two pounds of excess fat you lose.
If you’re out there looking for an idea, think desperation. Anything where someone’s nearing their breaking point will have a massive profit margin. Bonus, there are thousands of things that lead anyone to that point. Be creative!
slumdog millionaire »
Monday, January 12th, 2009
Slumdog Millionaire
Friday, Girlfriend and I went to Slumdog Millionaire. I hadn’t much heard of it but people were saying it was good. I dig the director and have no self-control so I didn’t put up a fight.
As you must know, I’m a sucker for twisted love stories. Slumdog, essentially, is just that. It follows Jamal, who is suspected of cheating on the Indian version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” (or Millo-nare). As each question is played back to him, major events in his life play out.
Most of the events of his life are tragic but Jamal is strangely distant from them, unaffected, as if he wasn’t meant for the turmoil at all. Put another way, amid all his misfortune, he is fortunate.
The plot is chronologically schizophrenic (love those sorts), the acting is solid throughout and the story is as dramatic as unrealistic as believable (I don’t get it either). The pace is consistent in its inconsistency. It’s entertaining and awesome.
It’s a solid rent. It seems predictable but the sequence is tweaked just right. Though I knew what the last question was, I was off as to how it fell on the time-line. (And apparently don’t know anything about literature.)
Stick around for the end. It’s one of the most entertaining credit roll I’ve seen. (If only for the stereotypical greatness of Bollywood cinema.)
Note: I’ve imported old reviews from my past site. There are 160-some sets of thoughts and critiques. These are under the “chasm reviews” category. Also, I’ve brought in posts from Drainage. That’s a blog most of you haven’t read. The tone is much different. Those posts are under “drainage” (obviously).