Posts Tagged ‘wtf’

Social Networking – UR Doin It Rong

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

Sometimes when I am doing field research at work, I stumble upon some items of real curiosity.

mybookface_1Take, for instance, the site MyBookFace.net.  No, I will not be so kind as to link that because I believe this site has ‘fail’ scrawled all over its 60% quality JPGs.  At first glance, it seems this domain is striving to ride on the coattails of its namesakes, MySpace and Facebook, but the only thing it is likely doing is reeling in those that are unfamiliar with social networking.  Even the name is a glaring attempt to obscure social networking for the uninitiated.

Don’t even get me started on the aesthetics and lack thereof. But nice logo. [/sarcasm]

mybookface_3If you’re curious about who exactly are the social networking uninitiated, you can check out the Quantcast data revealing that affluent, educated males over the age of 35, with children, are the target market.

I would peg “parents” as their target suckers, but we all know that mombloggers are some of the most net savvy people in the web. And it isn’t unheard of for business professionals of the target age demographic to head over to LinkedIn, female and male alike.

Essentially, their real target demographics are probably those who are just slightly out of touch — or at least out of touch enough so that they’d butcher the household names of MySpace and/or Facebook and go to this network.

It claims to be the “friendly” alternative to MySpace and Facebook, but really isn’t the gripe we usually have about MySpace and Facebook is that they’re exorbitantly friendly?  They are social networks, after all.

Ok, so maybe mybookface can be friendlier than the two social networking behemoths. I am yet to find evidence to support this, but I’ll give them the benefit if of the doubt.

What I would really like to draw to your attention is the main splash page graphic:

mybookface_2
Okay. mybookface is trying to tell us 3 things:

  1. Americans move to Paraguay to become detectives.
  2. White businessmen who live in the city of Lhasa move to Perth to become Elvis impersonators.
  3. Chinese people live in Africa, which is actually true about Angola, but this guy seems to be based in Cameroon.

Did anyone *facepalm* yet?

Shooting A Blank

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

I clicked “Add New” because I wanted to add a post that was meaningful and well thought-out.  In fact, I had a series of thoughts driving home from work, from which I planned to choose one, pick it up, polish it, and present it.

To my surprising dismay, I have completely drawn a blank. It’s like my own blog just bitch-slapped me.

I’m committing anyway to producing content, and detractors can easily say, “well, reading this was a waste of (a number of) minutes”, and I’d have to agree with them.  What is the point of me posting this?  Blogging for the sake of blogging?  Is blogging that much of an addiction that I feel the desire to hit “Publish” even though this is effectively pointless? (A: probably.)

And then I thought: Selective amnesia is frightening, frustrating, profoundly removed from a healthy sense of self.

And then I tried to think of things I might have forgotten at an earlier point, and discovered that I can’t remember things I already forgot.

And then I said to myself: You are stupid.  Trying to remember things you can’t remember is self-defeating.

And then I thought: Wait, do I actually have selective amnesia or am I just tired?  Did those thoughts actually occur or was I just in a certain mood where I thought I was thinking a lot?

And then: When I’m feeling that way, why am I never in a position to write that shit down?  Oh yeah, car ride.  But still – those thoughts shouldn’t be difficult to remember, right? Were they actually fertile subject matter or did I just think they were? If I can’t remember them now, obviously they are forgettable?

And now that I’m here: I have to have had something.  Why would I have logged in and hit “Add New”?  OH SHIT.  Is blogging just reflexive?

Does this ever happen to anyone?

This is like a cerebral dry-heave and the aftertaste is dizzying.

Why am I still writing?

…wtf?

for your lolz, and at my expense

Friday, April 18th, 2008

I’ve been posting a lot lately this week. But I just read a thread on 20somethings about sharing an embarrassing moment, and I thought I’d share this one because I love the story.

Let Fred and me relate to you one ass-crazy texting fiasco.

Exposition: My number is listed in Fred’s phone with 1 number off. I called the first week of January to see what he was up to, but he didn’t answer and I didn’t leave a message. Keep in mind that at this point, my number is now a rogue call due to being one number off. The only number Fred would suspect from a 626 area code is his ex.

So, he sees the number as 626, thinking it was his ex; he didn’t answer, but he had entered my number in his phone as said ex. So now, I am unwittingly playing Fred’s ex-girlfriend.

Flash-forward to January 12, Fred gets a text from my number that says “Bar tonight?” which, interestingly, I do not recall and doesn’t show up in my sent messages history. Fred, with his exquisite manners, is unavailable as he’s in the airport during this text, but wanting to hang out with her he proposes dinner for next week (also a text I did not get).

So poor Fred thinks that things are on the mend; Fred touches down Monday night and says he wants to get dinner sometime this week. I didn’t respond since I didn’t get this text, but now he’s getting riled up because there is a chance that the phantom ex-girlfriend is being coy.

Thursday Fred texts wanting to put the best foot forward in patching things up with said ex, asking if I (she…) wants to go to a bar tomorrow night which is a Friday.

Have you seen my last post? I went to San Diego on Friday. So I respond to this message (which I actually get) that I’m going to be in San Diego starting Friday. Now, this reinforces evidence that I am the ex-girlfriend because she goes to San Diego to visit a friend at least once a month (usually for the whole weekend). So Fred offers to hang out when I (she) gets back.

So today rolls around, I (she) gets back from San Diego and I message Fred along with others to see what my Los Angeleans are up to. He tells me about the Magritte Exhibit (which I actually want to see, too) and we have a conversation about me working (which I always am) — in any case, Fred suggests dinner. I respond in a half daze after waking up that I fell asleep but that I was down to hang out because I was sick of my family already. As Fred construes this as reticence, it reinforces my (her) identity. He proposes Korean BBQ (which his ex enjoys), and this is the part that you all must read verbatim:

Fred: “No problem (smiley), I was feeling like some Korean BBQ in K-Town. What do you think?”

Nico: “Sure, sounds cool. Should we meet somewhere?”

Fred: (note: Fred’s ex does not have a car, so she takes the Metro everywhere and so he tries to find the closest Metro line to his house) “It would be easiest for me to pick you up. The closest Metro station is the 7th st. Station. Whichever way is qui ker; the sooner I get some food in my belly the better.”

Nico: (note: I drive) “I’m out of the way in the other direction, how about I drop my car off at your place?”

(note: at this point, Fred is thinking “oh, so she (I) has a car now.” Also, in this note, I am at Fred’s on a regular basis.)

Fred: “Sure, my address is [insert Fred’s Address] — basically where the 110 and 101 meet right by downtown.”

(lag in response)

Fred: “It’s a little hard to find; up a driveway that’s next to some shops and a bar called El Chubasco. There’s a little red hardware store across the street called Do-It-Center. Let me know if you need any help finding it.”

Nico: (note: this is where it gets weird, as if it isn’t already) “Dude, I’ve affl there a lot so I’ve got it down hehe. On my way!”

———–

Alright, so after a while, I randomly show up at Fred’s place, Fred thinks nothing of it since I’m always here, and poor Fred is sitting here for 2.5 hours wondering where the hell this ex is. 10:30 rolls around, he’s concerned, so he texts “Hey, how’s the drive going, is everything alright?” A couple minutes go by so he probably thinks she is just on the road and can’t respond. So he buckles down and decides to call, braving possible awkward silences and ex-girlfriend vitriol (what a trooper – ladies, he is single and a real catch, btw), he presses call, and he hears my phone ring in the next room.

Yeah.

Best. Anecdote. Ever.

So now, Fred and I are going to get dinner and follow through with this because we are laughing entirely too hard about this that to not end the story this way is just inappropriate.