A couple weeks back in comments, long time reader and cyber-friend L asked me if I had an opinion on the new Olympus Pen camera.
I had little to say on the subject as I haven’t shot an Olympus for over 20 years.
But in my mailbox this morning, an email from Digital Photography School held some better information.
Here ya go, L:
So as mentioned, earlier this week, while getting my hairs did at the salon, I read the most current version of People magazine.
Air travel and hair fixin’s are the only time I let that kind of drivel inhabit my mind.
Aaaaaanyhow.
I noticed, while reading, an advertising for McDonalds and their new offering of Shrek 3 drinking glasses.
Oh did this take me back to my youth.
As a kid, I believe we had a set of Star Wars glasses. We also had a set of McDonalds character glasses, you know, Ronald McDonald, Hamburgler, etc.
I *loved* those glasses and loved collecting them.
However, they were made of such cheap glass that most ultimately broke in the dishwasher.
Ah well.
I thought it was a quite a bit of capitalizing on Gen X nostalgia that Mickey D’s was doing this sort of promotion again.
I had planned to write a blog post that was something like “Stop pandering to my generation! I know we are a target audience what with being at a good money making part of our careers and most of my peers with the house fulla kids! Google pandered with retro Pac-Man and now THIS?!?!?!”
Turns out I have to switch that slippery ol’ rant lever to “off”.
McDonald’s Recalls ‘Shrek’ Glasses.
Damn. Sorta stole my Friday blogging thunder.
Oh, and…
Ok. It’s time for my annual check in. I’m fast approaching a birthday, and now that I’m over 40, it’s a good time to check to see just how wide that ol’ generational gap has become.
We’ll start with trending topics on Twitter. I’ve eliminated all the hashtag items that are Twitter specific funning around like #DontBeShocked and #Musicmonday.
So here’s what we have as of 10:50 Pacific Standard Time.
Hekla
This Is Apple’s Next
#ashtag
Icelandic
Ok, well. Hekla. I pretty much figured it was a new R&B artist. I was wrong. It’s a volcano that may or may not be ready to blow its lid. Bad me.
“This is Apple’s Next” is a topic I’m all over. I read the Gawker item this morning about a supposed “found” iPhone 4. We’ll see. Apple always seems to have crafty moves…
But ok, score one for me, I’m on the board.
And #ashtag and Icelandinc are all about that fun, wacky volcano called Eyjafjallajokull.
Good, good. Three of four on that. Rock on.
Let’s try Yahoo! trending topics. Here we go, as of 10:55 PST.
Boston Marathon
Conan O’Brien
Christina Hendricks
Kelsey Grammer
Timothy McVeigh
Alyssa Milano
Lady Antebellum
Joakim Noah
Space Shuttle Discovery
Eyjafjallajokull
Ok, let’s run through the list. Let’s see….Boston Marathon. I know what that is, didn’t know it was being run today. Half point for me.
Conan O’Brien. Yup, know who he is. Heard he was getting a new cable show. There are a couple news items about he and George Lopez that I’m out of the loop on. Half point for me.
Christina Hendricks. I have no idea who that is. Hoookay, she’s evidently been chosen America’s best looking woman. She stars on “Mad Men” a show I haven’t watched as I don’t have cable. Big fat fail for me.
Kelsey Grammer. I used to watch Frasier and Cheers, so I’m up on Kelsey. I also know he’s super conservative. Ok. Evidently he’s starting his own right-wing network. Fair enough. Half point for me.
Timothy McVeigh. I know who he is. I wish I didn’t. Evidently there is some new project using his recorded voice. I probably don’t wish to hear it. I’ll take a zero points on this one.
Alyssa Milano. I know who she is. She is a $%#@ing Dodger fan. I don’t give a tiny rat’s ass about her. That said, I did read an article about her this morning and her new show “Romantically Challenged” (I didn’t say I was proud of it). Go me. Score one for the good guys.
Lady Antebellum. Know ’em. Love ’em. Love that they won a whole slew of Academy of Country Music awards last night. Whoo! Score one for me!
Joakim Noah. Er, uh. No idea. Ya got me here. Ah, basketball player. Chicago Bulls. Apparently people are pissed off at him. I don’t know why. I don’t watch basketball, sorry. Zero points for me.
Space Shuttle Discovery. Heard of it. Knew it was up. Didn’t know it was trying to land today. Bad weather causes delays. What’s new for the shuttle? Half point for me.
And finally, there’s my ol’ friend Eyjafjallajokull. Point goes to me!
Ok, let me add up the points…do the math here…carry the one…
Seems that I’m hip to 8 of 14 trending topics. That’s a resounding 57%.
Better than half, but not by much.
I’m not completely irrelevant, but I’m definitely trending down.
This year I will try to throw a rope over this generational chasm and hold on tight.
Image via the New York Times.
Edit: in the half hour or so it took to write this, the trending topics changed. Ah well, so goes the internets.
Boy, that’s a title, eh?
I’ll provide a guarantee right now, this post won’t live up to that title.
Maybe it’s aspirational. We’ll see.
There is a blog I read regularly that takes the form of an online journal. The author is really open and straight forward. It really is like reading her personal diary.
She suffers from quite a bit of writer’s block, and so when that happens, she’ll do a free association blog post where she asks herself questions and has her mind answer any which way it wants.
I find those posts fascinating as they always contain some nugget of something good that makes the whole exercise worthwhile.
I’m not saying my version of this is going to provide anything other than a nugget of “what the sam hell?” but I’m willing to try.
So. Here we go.
Chatting with myself…
Heeere we go!
Yup, let’s go!
We’re doin’ it!
Crimeny, I’m so blocked I can’t even write interviewer questions.
Ugh.
Ok, for real this time.
Hello, welcome to our self-chat. How are you feeling today?
Wait, that’s how a therapist likes to start a conversation. “How are you feeeeling?” How am I feeling? Bite me, that’s how I’m feeling!
I sense a little hostility.
Congratulations, your sensors are working fine. Can I go?
Yes, you can. But would you stay a minute more?
Why?
Because I asked you nicely.
Fair enough.
Why are you so cranky?
I get cranked up when I have writer’s block. It usually comes so easy to me, the words. In fact, I can write too many words. I was constantly admonished by a former boss, a numbers guy, that I wrote too many words.
He was a toad, though, so no need to let his opinions matter.
Isn’t writing a process? A flow? Sometimes a raging river, sometimes a trickle?
Thanks. Now I have to go pee.
Some of the greatest writers in the world had and have writer’s block.
Sure, sure. I know it’s all a part of the creative process but damn, I hate it!
Don’t you think railing against it only makes it worse?
Don’t you think being a smarty-pants is going to net you the backspace key, repeatedly?
Hey, this is your mental exercise, hot-shot, I’m just asking the questions here.
Oooh, touchy touchy! Fine, yes, I know that railing against writer’s block only makes it worse. But railing against [insert item here] is sort of how I make my way through life.
You know, “Hulk mad! Hulk smash!” or something like that.
Yeah. How’s that working out for you?
Today, not so well.
What do you think would help clear the block?
I don’t know. It usually passes in its own time.
So, if you can just wait it out, it will resolve itself.
Usually.
So, being patient with yourself and letting it pass by might actually be the quickest route?
Yeah, probably.
So why don’t you do that…be patient with yourself?
Damned if I know.
Well, maybe that’s something to work on today.
Yeah, you’re right. I’ll grudgingly admit you are right. Maybe even helpful, too.
Any closing thoughts?
I like pie.
Thank you, and good night….
It’s daytime, stupid brain. You good fer nothing piece of……
Thus concludes today’s conversation. I hope we’ve all learned something here. Though I’ve no idea what that would be.
Like many bloggers, as I write my posts and maintain my blog, I often I look at other blogs for ideas, inspirations, or what not to do.
Like…I hate blogs that are riddled with ads running down each side and between every post.
Then again, there are some sites that do ad placement in a tasteful way.
I’m torn.
About six months ago, I began my first foray into ad placement on my blog by placing a small, unobtrusive Google AdSense on my blog. It’s gotten a few clicks, nothing to write home about, and it’s been a good experiment.
Recently, I was contacted by the folks over at Made In New Mexico about an opportunity to do some link sharing.
I took a long time to think about it, as I was unsure about going there.
What finally changed my mind was that in this case I’d be supporting a business located in New Mexico selling New Mexico based products.
Helping the economy in my home state matters to me.
I’d bought from Made In New Mexico before, based on their ads in New Mexico Magazine, and I was satisfied with the experience.
I decided to place a new order using my own money, so I’d have current experience.
I went to their online store, shopped around, and bought two things:
A New Mexico license plate notebook (I chose the old fashioned yellow and red, but you can also choose the balloon theme plate):
( It sort of tickles me that it’s a trailer plate. Fitting for me, no?)
And a New Mexico flag (fresh outta the box, I need to steam the wrinkles out!):
The shopping was easy, the ordering process simple, and shipping happened the day after I ordered. Good stuff!
So based on a happy shopping experience and the kind folks who contacted me, you’ll now see a small ad in the right sidebar. If you click that ad, it will take you to the Made In New Mexico store and they’ll note that you came from my blog. If you buy, I might get a little something for it.
By the by, I wasn’t compensated for writing this post. If ya’ll buy some stuff, a couple sheckles might come my way. Mainly I’m happy to support a solid New Mexico business.
Thanks!