Thursday, September 22, 2011

Of Facebook and DVR things.

I have yet another rant about Facebook and I'll get to that in a minute. First, I'll talk about TV. Summer shows have ended and the fall season is finally here. The DVR is filling up fast!

It's really getting hard to juggle the schedule to see everything I want. Remember...the DVR can only handle 2 shows in 1 time frame. It really helps that many of the cable shows are aired more than once, and I can usually find it in another time slot to free up the prime time slots. I've had to pass on a couple sitcoms, but I know I can catch them later in reruns.

I learned early it's better to NOT use the handy DVR button that automatically records every episode of a particular show. Instead, I spend time flipping through the program guide and manually setting each recording. There's a lot of back and forthing when conflicts arise from too many sets in a time frame. More resets as I forget I already have that one on the DVR or set to record. I almost forget that obscure show on a cable channel I don't watch regularly. There's some mental labor involved, and the thumb gets a workout on the remote.

Dancing With The Stars started this week. Meh. The producers had originally stated they wanted more A and B list stars and less controversy. Yeah right. What did they end up with? You got it. Well, there's Chaz Bono. I guess he's interesting for the controversy, but for me it's about his A-list pedigree. I'm looking for Cher to sit in the audience, or perform. She better! I suppose you could consider Chynna Phillips and Ricki Lake B-listers so there's that. Mostly we got more reality "stars" and Z-listers. Oh joy, another Kardashian. That means we get to see more of the K's because they're sitting in the audience. I really hate the K's. I don't really expect this particular K to last long on the show. He has the same K lack of talent. Any standouts yet? Nah. It's actually a pretty (low) level playing field at this point. Chaz surprisingly didn't suck too bad! First one off was that tall sports guy, I don't have a clue who he is. He gave himself a stupid name, didn't have an endearing personality, and he was a big klutz on the dance floor. I rooted for him to be gone and yayed when he was. Can't wait to see what The Soup and The Daily Show have to say about Nancy Grace. She's a running joke on both shows.

Sad to see the season finale of Eureka. That was way too short! And Haven, I was just getting into it. Warehouse 13 and Alphas are near the end of their seasons, too. Where did Sanctuary and Leverage go? I'm pretty sure the season wasn't over. I hate when they split a season.

Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, Nikita, The Good Wife, Harry's Law, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, and Big Bang Theory are back. New shows are Ringer (had to watch, I'm a Buffy fan), The Lying Game (these two are very similar in concept), and The Secret Circle. I'm also checking out The X Factor. I never got into American Idol, I prefer dancing to singing competitions, but I'll give it a try.

Oh yeah. America's Got Talent got it right. The most deserving act (Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr.) won, and the runners-up will have successful careers.

And now The Whenever Rant.

Facebook even made my local news this week. Maybe you read the uproar about the latest changes? Shit flew out of the fan, and of course over and over again as it was copied/pasted/posted/reposted. I was amused, and a little riled as evidenced by this rant.

Don't you get it!? You are Facebook's bitches, people! Slaves, buttmonkeys...FB has you by the short curlies. It gave you a taste and then got you addicted. There's even a fucking phone just for Facebook (surely funded by FB), and I'm sure there are FBers who just had to have it for their fix. FB is FREE, you have NO SAY about anything. Sure, FB addresses privacy and security issues. They have to in order to avoid law suits. But the rest, you are just their little junkies.

Facebook is in the business of making money. All those changes are to make sure it keeps making more money, and they don't give a rat's ass whether you like it. Every time you click within FB, they make a buck. Every status post, every game, every copy/paste, every photo uploaded or viewed, every friend or group or page is another click...another buck. That's why they keep suggesting new friends. That's the reason for this new format where the "top stories" go to the top of your feed (yeah, I don't like it either). Frantic reposting of every protest (and other causes) is just adding more money to their bank account. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that FB employees start some of the things that go viral.

Do you get any of that vast fortune? Profit sharing? No, you do not. Not a penny. If you spend a good portion of your day on FB (epic numbers of people apparently do), it's like you went to a job and didn't get paid. You made money for the company, but you don't get any.

You really want FB to feel your displeasure? STOP! Stop doing anything in there. Stop posting and reposting. Stop playing games. Did you know games are one of their biggest money makers? Get your "friends" to stop. Just say no. Remember that slogan? It was about illegal drugs, but it applies to any addiction. And that's what FB is for too many people...an addiction. At the very least, don't be sheep. Only use it when you have something REAL to share. How about a Facebook Free Day! Nobody in the world use it for one whole day. You better believe FB will notice that!

I also don't get that people think FB is a substitute for a business website. I see too many home businesses based almost solely in FB (and not done well). Hey, just because Mark Zuckerburg made a fortune from FB doesn't mean you will. Believe me, you won't. FB is a good tool in conjunction with a website, but you still need a site to conduct good and successful business. Myself, I won't do business with anyone who doesn't have a functional and UPDATED website.

Sure, I go there everyday, OK several times a day. I'm retired, I have time on my hands. But I do way more reading than writing there, and I don't click around that much. Sometimes I get the urge to respond to something, and then back off. Do I really want my opinion there? Does anybody really care if I do? I really only use it to communicate with my real friends. I use the Like button only when I really agree with something. Ugh, my English teachers would smack me with a ruler for over-using "really", but I didn't have another word handy.

End of rant. Maybe I'll start hanging out at Twitter to see if anything interesting happens over there.


Good morning.