…I was about to write this big, huffy post about how I can no longer drink my favorite mass-produced beers (Franziskaner, Redhook, Bass, Widmer and Boddington’s) because they’re either owned outright or distributed by Anheuser-Busch/InBev, which is what Hensley & Co (aka Cindy McCain’s company) deals with.
And then I read about South Ossetia and realized that I am a petty, petty asshole.
I am not going to watch the Beijing Olympics. I will not have them on our tv at home, period. I will probably go on the Tivo and give everything with “Olympic” in its title three thumbs down. I won’t click on any Olympic news stories, and just might avoid NBC and its sister stations altogether (which will be tough, now that Eureka is back).
This is supremely blowful because I want to see my brother’s friend Amin Nikfar throw shot. I want to see if Dara Torres can kick as much ass now as she did in the ‘84 games. I want to see the cycling and the triathlon and the sheer ferocious beauty of the 100m dash.
But all of that is overshadowed by Beijing’s overwhelming oppression, the IOC’s hypocrisy, and having to listen to Bob fucking Costas drone on and on. That’s just too much bullshit for a man to take just to watch some athletics. So, have fun without me, people. I’ll be in the saddle or the pool or sweating for myself.
I was going to write a long screed about the movie I just saw for whose marketing we’re trying to pitch, but I’m too nauseated to be coherent. So, allow me to boil it down into easy-to-digest bullet points:
-If you think watching someone be flayed alive is entertaining, you need to check your ass into a psychiatric facility now. I don’t give a damn if you’re the creator or viewer of said content. Get thee to a nuthouse, ’cause you’re fucking crazy.
-If you expect me to try and sell this trash, you’re even crazier.
-But if you intend on recutting this flick so it’s all about the zombie demolition derby, then we can talk.
I realize that most of this site’s traffic comes from either a) people I know or b) Korean people who just want to pay their bills, but after watching the debacle at BoingBoing regarding unpublished posts, edited comments and standards of accountability (and posting a little bit in the fast-approaching-conversational-singularity thread at MeFi), I figured it would be a good idea to crank out some sitewide, privacy and comment policies, both heavily inspired by John Scalzi’s. Here they are.
Tim Russert came in, wearing his Rex Harrison hat, the morning of the caucus. It was a funny little detail that I thought about every time he showed up on The Daily Show or a blog: where’s the hat, Tim?
RIP.
I realize that previous post was a long time coming, but in between working on Windswept and posting to Twitter, I’ve got the writing bases covered. There’s other stuff, as always, but I can’t talk about it until it’s done, because to do otherwise would ruin the surprise. And why be a writer if you’re not going to surprise people?
1) We survived the trip from LAX to Florida and back. No limbs were eaten by eels, sharks or retirees. Floating above the wreck of the Spiegel Grove with eighty feet of water overhead was a marvelous experience, made even better by doing it with Anne and Chris. It made up for the cramped seats on Spirit Airways and the fact that, while the people at the desk think that row 10 is the emergency row with the sweet leg room, it was a pile of Not Fun.
2) Mark Zuckerberg is my new Evil Corporate Nemesis, taking the place of Steve Jobs (though I’ll probably put ol’ Steve-o back up if I ever buy an iPhone). Why? Because he represents the company who thinks that the following is a Good Idea:
- I make a Facebook page for a client’s product. Said product is a movie, and said movie has a soundtrack that will get the kids a-hippin’ and a-hoppin’.
- I want to put Facebook’s Music Player application on this page in order to facilitate the aforementioned hippin’ and hoppin’.
- The Music Player says, “First, I’m gonna need to confirm that you do, in fact, formally represent the movie in question. You can confirm this by uploading a scan of your student ID, your driver’s license or your passport.”
Now, the magical disclaimer says that I can black out any sensitive information as long as my name and picture are still visible. I know this is all so Facebook has its ass covered in case the RIAA Cops start kicking in doors and waving their weapons-grade subpoenas around, but still. Who in their right fucking minds would trust these Facebook assclowns with any of the information on a fucking passport just to upload music? Screw you, Mark Zuckerberg! You’re probably not responsible for this, but between this and the awful UI and everything else, screw you!
