Posted on Tuesday 29 August 2006
If you can explain any of these to me, please leave a comment.
- Watching Regular Season Baseball: Really, what’s the point? 162 games per team…are you kidding me? Other than a few games in September, the MLB regular season’s only function is to generate stats for Fantasy Baseball players and bean counters who want to compare Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds. Even people I know who follow baseball religiously generally do so via checking scores on their cell phones rather than actually watching a game. And, if keeping up with sports’ longest foreplay isn’t enough the individual games consist of very little action. On average, the ball is in play for about 10 minutes over the course of a 3 hour game. Compare this with football (I’d estimate about 45 minutes of play), basketball (48 minutes), hockey (60 minutes), and soccer (90 minutes!).
- YouTube Users Talking into the Camera: I like to check out the top videos on YouTube every few days just to keep up with the online zeitgeist and inevitably there’s these videos of people talking into a camera that get a tone of views. First, I read about Brookers in a Wall Street Journal article about Web 2.0 all-stars. I watched like half a video and determined it was crap. Then, I checked out the two most subscribed channels of all time: lonelygirl15 and geriatric1927. It’s like when you’re in public and someone just starts talking loudly on their cell phone so everyone knows the details of their life even though you’d rather not hear it. I just don’t get it.
- Dane Cook: He’s the most popular comic on iTunes (other than maybe Dave Chappelle) with his Comedy Central Stand-Up and a couple of podcasts (Danecast and Tourgasm). So, I watched his stand-up show on YouTube and I’m really clueless about why he’s so popular. He’s really obnoxious and not that funny. He reminds me of that person from high school who thinks they’re a lot funnier than they really are. Like the ratio of funny things said to things he says that he things is funny is something like 1:10. Now imagine that kid got his only Comedy Central show and cult following. If you find the name Tourgasm a stroke of comedic genius, then you’ll enjoy Dan Cook. If you find it obnoxious and not that funny, then you’ll probably share my opinion of him.
- Missing White Girls: If I had more time, it would be interested to go through the CNN homepage on the Wayback Machine and track the gender and race of every missing person who’s picture appeared on it. Here’s a tip, if ever a guy or minority that you knows goes missing, then before reporting it to anyone, photoshop their picture so they look like a white girl. Then, you’re guaranteed that the national media will launch 24 hour news coverage of the case. Why? I have no clue. Well, actually I do have a clue…ratings. I just don’t understand why so many people care so much about missing white girls when there’s virtually zero probability that they’ll have any effect on helping find the girl and there’s probably a slew of people that go missing every week that you never hear about.
- MySpace: I’ve written about this in detail before, but I keep thinking that one day the light will come on and I’ll see how this site can enrich my life. Hasn’t happened yet.
Tags: Humor, Lists, myspace, youtube
5 Things I don’t get the appeal of either (mostly)
1. I never understood obsessing over the regualr baseball season until a friend of mine pointed out that baseball is designed for statistics junkies. No game generates as many pointless statistics as baseball and 162 fixes a year is pretty good.
2. I check you tube about the same amount and I am always surprised by the number of talking heads. I watched one and was bewildered. They reprinted the article you mentioned in the Chicago Red Eye and I can’t understand what appeal these people have.
3. I watched a few episodes on HBO (one because he was at Kent State in Ohio and the other because he was in Chicago) and I tend to agree that he really isn’t that funny. The show plainly demonstrates he built a following not by being funny as much as shaking every fan’s hand after a show, returning every e-mail and personal message.
4. I think you should specify *attractive* white girls. The homely girl doesn’t end up on CNN either.
5. Disclaimer: I am the owner of a myspace website that I never use. Myspace essentially functions just like your blog, only with no elegance whatsoever. If I where ever to actively blog, I think I would probably set up a real site like yours. Until then for the two blogs a year I will write, myspace suits the purpose. I also think teenagers like writing comments like “Lonelygirl15 is kewl. She rulez!” and other insightful bits on the front page guestbook. Kind of like the way dry erase boards worked when I was an undergrad (and the world wide web could only be accessed with Lynx on a Unix machine).
I agree with you on the myspace thing!
Eric – I just wanted to say thanks for bringing back my memories of dry erase boards on dorm room doors. That was an essential on the checklist of things to get for college…
Laundry basket – check
Shower caddy for all your shampoo and stuff – check
Shoes to wear in the shower – check
Dry erase board for you door – check
Ahh..the good ol’ days.
Interestingly, I’ve noticed a couple things:
1) In some places, baseball is still something for people to build community around (watch together at the sports bar or whatever).
2) Dane Cook was actually suggested to me as a comedian I might be interested in by the girl checking out my stuff to me at the library. Of course, this is the same girl who suggested The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.
3) MySpace has all the benefits of Facebook, Friendster, Orkut, etc. – but with the added bonuses of (1) all your favorite bands have a myspace and will re-friend you (and you can listen to their music) and (2) it has the lowest barrier for entry ever. I know a lot of people on mySpace, and none of them are technical people.
Since I’m leaving pictures in my comments these days, here is a picture just for you Damon:
More observations:
Thank you both.