Category: Blog

Movie Opinion: The Stand In

Posted on by admin_david

THE Stand In

I just watched this Drew Barrymore movie on Netflix, expecting it to be a comedy, and I love pretty much everything I’ve seen that she’s been in.  As with most movies and shows, after I started it, I checked in on IMDB just to see some reviews and read the trivia. I was very surprised to see it only rated 4.5, but I don’t usually give too much weight to reviews, since a lot of people just like to complain.  When I watch a movie, I just want to be entertained, I don’t expect a life altering experience. So if I’ve been amused then, that’s good enough for me.
As there wasn’t much in the “trivia” section, I read a couple of non-spoiler reviews.
The crux of the complaints was that this movies was NOT funny at all.  But amongst the negative reviews a couple of positive ones stated, this was definitely a drama, not a comedy (nor even a “dramedy”).  So, I was forewarned, and that helped a lot.

As a drama, this was in my opinion, a very good film about an actress that has a career ending melt down which also ends the career of her look alike Stand In.

If one is prepared for a drama and not a comedy, I believe this movie will go over well with a lot of viewers.

Since x out of x stars, thumbs up, check marks is a very subjective and arbitrary rating system, I will prefer to give a Watch/Don’t Watch recommendation.

Recommendation: Watch (if you like a well acted drama with a decent story).

 

I’ve dropped Facebook and it’s subsidiaries

Posted on by admin_david

 

I have felt for quite a while that Facebook’s business practice was either incredibly irresponsible, or just downright evil, depending on what you focus on.

01

The recent privacy update fiasco is really just the final straw that motivated me to shut it all down. 

They give a platform to hate speech, misinformation, and general idiocy.  This is nothing new for social media, and the fact that they allow it is not the heart of the problem.

For me, and a lot of others, the problem is that if you have a fringe idea that is dangerous, bad, or egregiously misinformed (racism, antivaxx, QAnon etc)  the Facebook algorithm actually fans the flames by filling up your feed with even more like minded crap. 

They do it all in the name of profit, because more views = more advertising dollars.  So basically they sell your beliefs and views to companies for targeted advertising, and it just makes everything worse.

This works with any type of belief, or anything you like, or follow.

Take me for instance, I follow and click on a lot of animal rescue societies, so my feed is filled with tonnes of that.

So really, no big deal for me right? (aside from the occasional tears from seeing these rescue stories)  But imagine I’m a mentally unstable individual, that hates anyone that doesn’t match my demographic, I’m paranoid and think the government is coming for my guns, and I think Hitler got a bad rap.  My feed would be full of shit that just feeds into those delusions. You don’t even have to go searching for it. All that shit comes looking for you thanks to the Facebook Algorithm.

Then of course add in the fact that everything you post, everything you do/like is for sale to other companies (at no profit to you of course, you’re getting the privilege of selling your life to use their “free” service).

02

Solutions/Options

I had a choice to make, and actually it was quite a difficult one.  I had the option to stick with Facebook, and considering that all my friends and family use it, and I wasn’t personally being inundated with any more than stories about rescue agencies, and memes about Dogs and Cats staying with FB would have been the easy choice.

But I decided to look around, and see if there were viable alternatives. 

I found a suitable Facebook replacement in “MeWe” it’s functionality is similar to Facebook, though not quite as polished.  The guarantee they will never sell your information to anyone, and nothing hits your feed that you didn’t actively look up and sign up for.

To replace Instagram, I chose a service called EyeEm which is a photo sharing Marketplace.  So yes you can share photos, but they hope that you’ll also add them to their Marketplace to sell them, and you’ll get a cut, depending on how many of your pics sell.  But your photos are yours, and no one is going to use them unless they pay you for the right to do so.

And finally to replace Whatsapp I chose “Signal”. It’s a private messaging app, that guarantees your privacy and has end to end encryption of your messages. It is not partnered with any other Social Media service, so your data is yours, they aren’t going to sell it, or use it to steer advertising your way.

03

So Far, so so.

So, what has the end result been?

It’s been just over 3 weeks since I’ve left behind Facebook/Instagram and so far, it’s quite lonely. 🙂  I have 3 connections in MeWe, my wife, a friend, and a member of a group that I joined. It’s odd posting something and not having anyone comment or “emoji” it (MeWe’s answer to likes/hearts/etc).  But the interesting thing is, when I open my MeWe feed, there is NOTHING there that isn’t directly from one of my contacts, or from one of the MeWe Groups that I have joined.  Nothing MeWe thinks I would like, no ads, nothing extraneous.

I haven’t wasted any hours following video links, I haven’t had to shake my head because of some news article about an idiot doing something that evolution should have taken care of long ago.

 

EyeEm is interesting. They actually encourage full size photos (easier to sell when you have full quality), you can upload from your computer, and the marketplace is interesting. They don’t automatically accept every photo you post to their marketplace, every photo gets reviewed. (if you chose to add it to marketplace in the first place).  I have 5 or 6 photos that have made it up to the marketplace, and one that even got added to the partner program.

I don’t have 350 followers, and 20+ likes per photo, I have 1 follower, and 3 likes is a good day. 🙂  But having photos accepted to marketplace is better feedback than someone clicking “like” in the hopes that you’ll visit their page and like some of theirs.  

It’s going to take a while before Facebook gets the comeuppance it deserves, but people are looking for alternatives, and the US Government last year was considering splitting FB up for Anti-Trust/Monopoly reasons. So hopefully, in time, my MeWe contacts list will grow with more refugees fleeing the Evil Facebook Empire.  

Until then, there’s a lot less “noise” coming from my Social Media, and my mood seems generally better for it.