Author: Matthew Groff

  • Weekend

    So… how was your weekend?

    Mine was a mixed bag.

    Saturday was rather lovely, as everyone went out and did the thing they wanted. I watched the Premier League, and relaxed. The kid went to hang out with a friend. My wife just took it easy and didn’t do anything.

    Then Sunday, all hell broke loose. Nobody got along with anyone. It was as if whatever you did, it annoyed another person in the apartment. By the time everyone was going to bed, order was restored, and we seemed to be tolerating each other.

    It’s not that I think we as a family should get along every minute of every day, but I did wonder if not having a plan of things to do, was the issue? Like this is what we are planning on accomplishing today. Here is out goal. We’re going out and doing this.

    I prefer my Sunday to be a day where I don’t do shit, except make food and relax. Saturday too, come to think of it, but running errands on Saturday seems more appropriate.

    See, the kid and the wife sure do hate a Sunday late afternoon, as the “Sunday Blues” kicks in, and it starts to feel dauting and inevitable, and awful that the weekend is coming to a close. It does make people edgy.

    I can’t say that I feel the same as my wife and kid. When I had a 9 to 5 job, Sundays were the worst. Now, as a stay at home dad, I don’t have Sunday Night Blues, but I also feel like I’m always “on.” If there is an issue or problem within the family I have to fix it, no days off.

    Just an odd weekend.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Autumn Marketing in Summer, Theatre, and Tottenham Hotspur

    (Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale…)

    It’s not done yet! I know it’s August still, and it’s hot, and the subway platforms are a swamp, and when I step outside, I just start sweating. I’m an old man and I can’t stop talking about the weather, and around this time of year, I want it to be Fall more than anything. But I’m going to throw the marketeers of America under the bus one this one. These Ad-Wizards starting running back-to-school commercials before the 4th of July. Halloween junk on sale at drug stores and Home Depot in August? Just yesterday, I got a catalog in the mail from L.L. Bean telling me that it’s time for Fall! I’m not crazy; they’re all jumping the gun here, right?

    The kid auditioned for a school play. This made me very excited and proud. Also, it put me on notice not to be a “Stage Dad.” See, the kid needed to have a one minute monologue memorized for her audition, and she came to me for help. You know; me, her dad, the guy who got a theatre degree, and did plays and puppet shows and physical theatre here in New York City. Me! She came to me for help, and I said yes! And then I had to tell myself that I cannot live through her, and her experiences in auditioning and doing this play. No! I am here to support, and give guidance when she asks for it. But, she didn’t know how to score a script, or what a beat was in reference to dialogue, so I had to fill her in a little. But no Stage Dad shit!

    This could be a rough season for Spurs. Just saying…

  • META Settlement; Don’t Trust It

    The biggest problem I have with huge, multi-state settlements evolving enormous corporations, is that in the end, the public never benefits. I read the story about the settlement in the paper, and this morning I have been watching all the state AG’s lining up to do the morning news shows telling us how this is a “game changer” and a “new day” when it comes to breaking the addictive nature of social media, and its hold on our children.

    As far as I can tell, META is handing over an amount of money it can afford, and setting up guardrails for teen accounts, provided the teen sets up a teen account…

    But what if a teen sets up a fake account? Seems to me that it won’t take someone long to figure out a way around all of this, and then we pretty much are right back to where we began. Which I think was the point of settling in the first place.

    I see all of this as a very interesting form of performance art, enacted in the hopes to avoid regulation. {“Please don’t touch my algorithm if you please, Mr. Customs man.”} Like, if all the tech companies hand over some money, promise to change some of their rules, then the AG’s and all the politicians will give up on that whole nasty regulation thing, right? (While you’re at it, could you stop all this business about stopping our data centers?) It’s a really fun show, as long as you don’t think about how it’s affecting and ruining the world around you.

    The truth of the matter is that this is a big game, and as long as the company and the shareholders are making money, it will continue being played. Which is why I say that if you really want these social media companies to behave, you have to go after their addictive algorithms. They make their money off of us using that piece of code. Regulate the code, and they’ll play nice.

    Until that happens, all of these settlements are meaningless.  

  • Earworm Wednesday: This Charming Man

    It all started one night last week, when I was trying to explain to my kid what “Indie Rock” was and why me and her mom love it so much. For whatever very sad reason, we had never played anything by The Smiths for her. I thought “How Soon is Now” would have been the song my kid latched onto. Nope, “This Charming Man” was the big winner.

    My reward for this evening of Music education was that this song has been stuck in my head all week. And I still don’t have a stitch to wear…

  • Dolly – Our National Treasure

    Well, this sucks…

    Dolly might have been the last American celebrity that everyone liked. Check that; Everyone loved.