On privacy (or the lack thereof)

September 21, 2005


Being a blogger who chooses to throw their full name on their site has a couple of disadvantages – namely, people I don’t know are privy to my personal information, or at least the information that I’m willing to give.

I don’t have a problem with this at all. I think I’m a pretty interesting person (though many people may disagree) and so, in an odd voyeuristic way, I enjoy getting my name out there – to have the opportunity to be “googled” and have the search come up with something of interest.

Still, it can be incredibly odd. A handful of people have found this blog through my name alone, not knowing that I actually had some sort of personal web-space until they tripped upon it. Others have received the website address from a reader, or I have informed them of it, and because of this I have a base of readers who ultimately know more about me than I know about them.

For this reason I sometimes need to remember the difference between what should be brought up in this private-yet-public forum – something that Kerrie rightly reminds me of from time to time – and what should be kept inside my own circle of friends, or my own house, or even in my own head.

I’ve made myself a semi-public figure. I sometimes wonder if very famous people would ever post their own name on something as mundane as an Internet message board, or if they would blog as openly if they were posting under their real name as opposed to an Internet handle. Would Dave Eggers criticize other authors under his name? Or would he use Degg0932 instead?

I’ve done this to myself, so even if I were to be annoyed by it I’d have only myself to blame. As I said before, I like it, but it’s really weird, sometimes. It’s like a miniscule version of real celebrity status: as your name becomes more and more recognized, your privacy becomes less and less viable.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not calling myself a celebrity. I’m hardly even in the top half of South Dakota bloggers (of which there isn’t a high number of quality blogs to begin with, truthfully), though I’d like to think I am. I just understand there’s a direct correlation between exposure and a lack of privacy. I tend to like the exposure, and for that reason, I don’t mind if you know about mundane things like my lawn, my job, my life, or my thoughts.

In fact, I embrace the attention. I like attention. It’s true – I can’t deny it.

If you don’t mind being allowed into my sometimes-cluttered mind and being told about the minutiae of my life, keep reading. Because as long as there’s someone to give me the attention, I’ll gladly bask in it and continue spilling my no-longer private thoughts all over this site.

And I’ll love every minute of it.

Tags: Blogging, On..., Writing |

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What can you say to this?

September 20, 2005


From ananova.com:

Ice-T to produce Hasselhoff rap album

Ice-T is to produce David Hasselhoff’s first hip-hop album.

The pair are neighbours in Los Angeles and are said to have struck up a close friendship.

Hasselhoff has had some success as a singer, releasing seven albums. He’s also said to be very popular in Germany.

Ice-T, who was one of the first real hip-hop stars in the late 1980s, said: “The man is a legend. And we are going to show a whole new side of him.”

The rapper is said to be convinced that the 51-year-old for Knight Rider and Baywatch actor can take on the biggest names in rap, reports The Sun.

Ice-T added: “He’s gonna come out as Hassle The Hoff - I promise you. The Hoff will surprise people with his rap skills and humour.”

I think I threw up in my throat a little when I read that.

Tags: Music |

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The Emmys, eh?

September 19, 2005


Not watching television much anymore is really starting to pay off. The list of award winners from the Emmys last night was met with a blank stare in my household.

In fact I’ve only seen one of the shows that won an award (if you don’t count watching 10 minutes of a Everybody Loves Raymond re-run): The Daily Show.

I’m not sure what’s cooler — knowing only one of the shows that won an award, or having that one show be The Daily Show.

Here’s the story: 57th Emmy Awards.

Tags: Random |

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Random links, 09.18.05

September 18, 2005


An interesting mix of links from the past week, as brought to us by Bill “The Sports Guy” Simmons’ intern over at ESPN’s Page Two:

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First is the tale of North Carolina State’s new Student Body President: Whil Piavis, President and pirate. This might be the funniest pirate story I’ve seen in my entire life.

From now on, all movies shown on campus must be rated “Arrr.” *rimshot!*

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The Boston Herald, home of the “quintessential sports writer” Bob Ryan (as named by Tony Kornheiser), brings us the All-Time Greatest Sports Video Games tournament.

First of all, NHL ‘94, the year they took the fighting out, was voted the winner. Not a bad choice, but I’d have gone with Tecmo Super Bowl.

Second: wait, Tecmo Super Bowl wasn’t even included. They chose the far inferior Tecmo Bowl (the original) over it’s much heralded sequel.

I played Tecmo Bowl so much I had the teams memorized. I once beat the Cleveland Browns 84-0 with the Miami Dolphins. It was a great game. Interestingly enough, the sportplanet.com Tecmo Super Bowl link above mentions that with the retirement of Jerry Rice there are no active players remaining from the rosters of Tecmo Super Bowl. This boggles my mind.

Third and lastly on this subject — R.C. Pro-Am was a great game. But best sports game? Couldn’t that slot have gone to Virtua Tennis or Mega Man Soccer? Or Fire Pro Wrestling?

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Stephen King will kill you for $25,000.

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A petty Saab owner gets rear ended with no noticeable damage and requests $800 dollars to “fix” the bumper. What would you do — call him a jerk and post a blog about it or try to shame him into donating the money to the Red Cross? This guy did both and ended up raising $32,000.

Scroll all the way to the bottom to catch the beginning and make your way to the top.

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And finally, while on the subject of charity, here’s an article on the NBA’s Katrina Relief Charity game — a sloppy game with great benefits. Sure, they were all just messing around, but this went above and beyond what the other leagues did: this wasn’t just money, this was a “put all differences aside and give a face to the victims while letting the victims put a face to the relief.” It was an awesome effort, all from Kenny Smith of TNT. Who says the NBA is the thuggish brute that many want to make it out as?

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Well, that’s all for now. Except that I hate the Jets.

But that’s nothing new.

Tags: Random Links |

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The anti-fan

September 17, 2005


I’d say that in the past five years I’ve taken my personal sports “fandom” from a level of casual supporter of certain teams to something close to a “fanatic-in-training.” I’m not quite at the level of watching two unranked Division II football teams fight it out without getting some sort of paycheck out of it, yet. I am, however, much more willing to watch the closing innings of a Tampa Bay-Detroit baseball game (two horrible teams that haven’t been any sort of threat in the past 15 years) or a Philadelphia 76ers/Boston Celtics 1979 ESPN Classic special (a game that happened when I still learning to walk.)

Part of being a sports fan is following “your” teams – I’ve got the Indiana Pacers, followed by the Miami Dolphins. You root for them to win, criticize their weaknesses, and give them a pass when they make stupid moves. These teams, for me, can’t do anything wrong, and while there will be times when I will drag their name around, primarily I’m stuck with them for life.

To prove this point: I once defended Jay Fiedler. That’s all I really have to say.

There’s another side of this, though. As I was listening to the Pitt/Nebraska game on the radio today, I heard mention of Dave Wannstedt (former Dolphins coach and team-wrecker.) I said to myself: “I hope he loses.”

I stopped and thought about what I had just said. I was not rooting for a team or player anymore – I was actively rooting against someone, hoping that they would fail. I realized how horrible this is, but also how much a crucial part of sports it is as well.

Everyone has a certain group of teams, players, and staff that they hate – teams that they want to see fail in every way possible. We’d root for these people to lose rather than rooting for the other team to win. It doesn’t matter the circumstances. The team must lose. Preferably very badly.

Dave Wannstedt is in my group. As is Barry Bonds (with his incredibly poisonous personality), Isiah Thomas (who has screwed up everything he’s touched as a coach and GM), and Jayson Williams (sure, he may have killed someone, but you should have seen his lack of hustle against the Skyforce last year.)

Every non-Miami team in the AFC East (the New England Patriots, New York Jets, and Buffalo Bills) is actively rooted against every week. In the event that two of the teams play each other, I root against the one with the better record.

Additionally, you can throw the Detroit Pistons in my group – as a Pacers fan I have no choice. Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace used to be rooted against, but Rasheed Wallace is on my fantasy simulation team and it would be hypocritical to wish him bad luck at this point. Ben Wallace gets a pass because he does the grunt work, which I always appreciate.

I’ve always had a thing for hating certain teams that have entered themselves as “dynasty” teams, especially when they haven’t done anything dynastic for the past ten years or so. The Oakland Raiders, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Yankees (who still do well, but wouldn’t without the ridiculous payroll) all fit this category.

I’ve never liked Antoine Walker or Latrell Sprewell, and I especially hated John Starks when he was in the league. Larry Johnson, too.

The list could go on, but I’ve already been put on snooze by half of my readers. My point is this: isn’t it weird to hate a group of people – to wish horrible defeat and never-ending failure upon each and every one of them – when they’ve never done anything to warrant your ire? Is it completely horrible to want Tom Brady to do nothing but throw interceptions, get thrown to the bench, and end up cut the following year?

Of course not. It’s sports. This is part of what I signed up for when I became a sports fan: utter contempt without guilt, hate in the form of team loyalty.

Now if you don’t mind, I need to attempt to curse Dave Wannstedt a little more.

Tags: Basketball, Football, Miami Dolphins, Sports |

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Plunderin’ Vikings

September 16, 2005


Sometimes I’m curious if certain businesses understand the concept of supply and demand – particularly the notion of “demand.” In other words: if something sells out in a short amount of time, wouldn’t you assume that it was something worth restocking? Would it sell out if nobody wanted it?

At the relay center we are blessed to have a company called Viking Vending fill our two soda machines, one for cans and one for bottles. Our bottle machine is brand new: it holds about the same amount of bottled beverages as the two it replaced, and when it was delivered we stood around in a circle marveling at the new and varied selection of drink stuff enclosed inside.

It truly was wonderful. We now had our choice of Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew or Dr. Pepper (regular and diet of all varieties,) Sierra Mist, the obscure Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi – even Gatorade, Red Bull, or Dole juices for those who shied away from soda. The crowning jewel in this collection, for me at least, was Diet Cherry Coke.

“Hooray!” I thought. “I can get some tasty diet soda at work anytime!”

I was so wrong.

It took only three days for the Diet Cherry Coke to run out. I was not dismayed – I figured that a great seller like that would be replaced in no time.

I came back later that week to find something else in it’s place. Sunkist.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said to myself (and, coincidentally, the others in the break room.)

Where is the logic in that? The best selling soda in the entire group is replaced? Wha??

Viking still had yet to pull out all the stops. In the upcoming weeks, I switched my soda of choice to Diet Sierra Mist. This would be no problem; I assumed I’d just substitute this for my Diet Cherry Coke until it returned.

A few days later, I looked again. The Diet Sierra Mist was replaced — replaced with regular Sierra Mist. More specifically, a line of Sierra Mist with one bottle of Mountain Dew Code Red placed in front of it – rendering the bottles of Sierra Mist worthless lest you purchase the Code Red first.

Feh.

Also, two more holes had opened. Both were soon filled with more Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi and Sunkist, two sodas that so far nobody has purchased in their first spots.

We’ve got only one spot each for Dr. Pepper and Diet Dr. Pepper, but we’ve got two spots each for Sunkist and Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi? Are these guys morons? Or did they only have six bottles of Diet Cherry Coke in the entire warehouse – the six in the machine when it was delivered?

I am so distraught about this.

I need help.

Tags: Annoyances, Career |

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Against Me!

September 15, 2005


Maybe I’m a little behind the curve on this one, but I’ve discovered that I really like Against Me! – a punk band that has brought a new energy to the genre, for me at least. Most of my friends have been gushing about them for a few years now, but only now have I finally mustered the strength to give them a try myself.

My friend Ryan borrowed me Against Me!’s 2003 acoustic EP (The Acoustic EP) and I’ve been listening to it non-stop for days. Why was I waiting around for this band to enter my rotation when I should have been actively pursuing everything they’ve released?

The EP itself is great. I mean great. Every song is pretty killer – in fact, I’d go as far as to say that it’s perfect (as far as punk rock EPs go.)

Additionally, there’s never been a lyric that has made me want to drink Guinness more than this: “And just like James, I’ll be drinking Irish tonight and the memory of his last work week will be gone forever.”

Anyway, I’m gushing right now, so I’ll leave you with some lyrics – the classic “our friends are our life and we’ll stick together until the end etc.” lyrics that every band tries to do but only a few perfect.

Let’s just say this band, along with Hot Water Music, has perfected it.

Please tell me why we couldn’t stay
Don’t let this feeling ever go away
Let this memory forever be inside of me
Through every hour of every day
It’s with the company of these friends
That we drove on through the night
We were carried by the wheels of Armageddon
We’re gonna force ourselves to live
Thankful it’s hurt more than we’ve ever felt
It’s just our means to an end

And honestly we were armed with our best intentions
Maybe those intentions alone
are just enough to get us anywhere but here
In the middle of America
Six cylinders will take us further than any president
The same promises that we forgot the last time
There’s no difference between staying and a bullet in the head
Maybe it’s gonna come from the radio
Or the next 8 hour day
Driving to the next town
A collect call home to your best friend
We are the company we keep
We could live off of dumpsters if we have to
Sell our blood by the pint to make rent
This kind of dignity doesn’t come easy
But you’ll never find it for sale

We Did it All for Don – Against Me

Tags: Music |

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