How Pixar Killed My Sports Blog

Back in the day, I used to have a mildly successful sports blog. By “mildly successful” I mean that it had a few hundred regular readers, was fun to write, and made approximately 50 cents in Google AdSense funny money. For various reasons, it died several deaths before finally being retired last year for good. I love sports and I love writing, so what could’ve possibly gone wrong? I’m here to tell you it was one thing and one thing only… Pixar.

That cute little jumping desk lamp killed my sports blog.

Okay, so maybe that a bit of an overstatement… but since the internet is home to roughly a billion overstatements, exaggerations, and examples of out-and-out bullsh** at any given moment, it’s in good company. However, as overstated as the point may be, there is some truth to it. Continue reading

The War On Perspective

Borrowed from ToonPool.com, artist unknown. Not the property of Designing Dad.

There’s this terrific urge to share just about every moment of our lives these days, whether your preference is Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, a blog, or something I’m not even aware of yet. It’s safe to say that, unlike any time before our own, we have the ability and the willingness to share whatever is happening in our lives at that moment in real time, without filters, and without perspective.

See, there’s the problem. Sharing live from across the world via satellite the protests in Egypt or perhaps something momentous that’s happening in your own backyard is one thing. However, letting the world at large know that this pastrami on rye is the best sandwich you’ve ever tasted and that you’d make sweet, sweet love to it if the law allowed such things… well, we don’t really need to know that.

(Unless you’re a musical genius like Warren Zevon advising us to enjoy every sandwich. In which case, rock on. Oh, and go listen to this a couple dozen times and realize this man was dying of cancer. Cancer. Stop bitching about your internet connection and do something to further the human race, okay?) Continue reading