And Now…Something Sort of Different

May 10, 2021May 9, 2021Michael 2 Comments

A few years ago I had a great idea to change the name of the blog. The Real Reality Show Blog made sense in the beginning as a response to the reality being foisted upon us by cable television so-called reality shows. Come on now, let’s have a show of hands, how many think those housewives are really real. And not to spoil anybody’s surprise, on almost any of those shows where somebody gets surprised, didn’t you ever wonder how the producers managed to get the surprise-ees mic’ed up without them knowing it. So, since the reality of those shows was more than a little in question, the Real Reality Show Blog filled the gap with real stuff, real places, and real people from wherever I really happened to be.

Over time (a lot of time – I started writing this drivel in 2012!) the reality wasn’t any less but it was sometimes augmented with commentary, thoughts, and suppositions. It became more the musings of some old, single, white guy. In fact, the first alternate name I thought of for the blog was just that – Old Single White Guy. Even though it describes me to a T, it really pushes the bounds of political correctness. And then I thought, oh no, I can’t call it that because any time I started following a new blog the blogger would get an e-mail from WordPress stating, “Congratulations! Old Single White Guy just started following you!” and I just don’t have the money to spend on keeping a lawyer on retainer.

It was clear that my first thought was not my best thought. Not surprising considering I recently wrote an entire post about poor first thoughts. And then it hit me! The famous sign from that post, the one I’m looking at while I’m writing this. The one I’ve looked at writing almost every post for the last almost ten years. Don’t Believe Everything You Think. That’s it! I got it and I got it good. Or bad. Or whichever is good nowadays. That could be “THE” perfect name for this perfectly imperfect nonsense.

Yep, Don’t Believe Everything You Think. But I’ve built a brand. How will people find me? Duh, who the … um, who might be looking for me. I’ve never “advertised.” I’ve never linked from there to here from the various there’s I haunt – cyberly speaking that is. Yet somehow in just the last 4 years people have landed on this site over 20,000 times. If I only had a nickel. [Sigh] Not to worry though. I’m not changing the name of this blog so if you haven’t subscribed but you just know how to get here you can keep getting here however that is. But I am using the name for a new podcast version of this.

You’ve all seen the notices from WordPress, turn your blog into a podcast. Well, it seems easy enough and I want to experiment a little. If I’ve done this right, you should find a link Don’t Believe Everything You Think on the Anchor platform where you will hear me reading this drivel. And some other stuff. And each time I do this there’ll be more other stuff. Go listen and please come back here and tell me what you think. (This particular drivel you should find right here.)

01a39c24efcfb5bde1debe2de75e473c90853c0da5e44078e88df466a2e22901.0 And remember, even though you may not have known it, chances are pretty good that there’s an old, single, white guy following you.

Oh, one more thing. When I set that up over there, or over here if you’re now listening instead of reading, they ask for a category I guess so they can figure out where to pigeonhole you. What could I say about this? There isn’t a category for claptrap. So I called it a personal journal. And that reminded me of something. You’ve heard me speak of my daughter many times. She does many things, including writing. For her though it’s professional. Yeah, she actually makes money writing. She’s written something new that’s not meant to be read but to encourage others writing. I thought of this when I was selecting “personal journal” for my category. She’s written journal prompts, but I think pretty cleverly. She’s developed a card deck of prompts. According to her, “Everyone has a story, but not everyone knows what their story is.” The deck has 52 cards packed in a study box. Go check them out, at Untitled. She doesn’t know I’m telling you this, so if you see her, don’t say anything. Thanks.

On Rode the 300

January 1, 2015December 31, 2014Michael Leave a comment

It’s milestone day! Or should that be Milestone Day? Subtle differences make differences. Anyway…

It’s a milestone day – this is Post #300! That means the next one starts counting all over again. And it will, but the first 300 still hang out. It’s also the start of a new year (or New Year if you prefer). That means there should be some changes. And there are but the old stays just as dear as always.

Like we did with the first and second hundred there are some favorites to call out. It held to the original concept of the first post – this is real reality, not what some housewife, fisherman, storage locker junkie, dancer, prancer, or gator-bait would have you believe is. What gets posted here really happened – unscripted, unplanned, sometimes unwanted, but always real. Scary.

What were some of the best of the really real? Well, best is in the eye of the beholder – or reader – not unlike an ugly Christmas sweater in one of the more recent and memorable posts “Being Beholden” (Dec. 11, 2014). Another favorite on this side of the keyboard was “Good Things, Small Spaces” (Oct. 6, 2014), the real life adventures of a visit to a public restroom where everything was automatic and proved it!

Rarely was a post controversial other than if it actually fit in the selected category. One that bucked that trend was “You Thought That Was Politically Incorrect” (Aug. 11, 2014) which was written after He completed several real surveys, each with remarkably different multiple choice answers to the same question – what race are you? Seemed that someone said that shouldn’t be important yet it keeps getting asked. Discrimination that made a difference was the subject of “Hair Today, Gone Yesterday” (Aug. 4, 2014), the true tale of a man getting a haircut in the twenty-first century.

There were lots of posts about spending money and buying stuff. One of the more obtuse offerings was “What I Did on My Summer Vacation” (July 21, 2014). The title notwithstanding it was about sales, Back to School sales specifically and a search for a new toaster. Real, not necessary rational. Shopping took a nasty turn at “Handicap Hate Crime” (June 19, 2014) another true story (they all are), this one of how one grocery store almost crippled the recovering He trying to negotiate his way to the handicapped parking slots. Technology is not always wonderful.

With all this shopping there has to be somebody doing the selling. Posts abounded about salespeople and clerks, with an emphasis on the occupant of the drive-thru window. “If You Give a Teen a Penny” (April 7, 2014) detailed what was the first day behind the cash register for a high schooler whose parents you know told her to get a job. Unfortunately, they didn’t tell her how to make change.

Fashion is always abuzz (not to be confused with a buzz). The first post for this 100 posts hitting the fashion world was “Winter Rules” (Feb. 17, 2014). It included the first two rules of winter fashion. I’ll add Rule #3 here – It may be a new winter but use the old rules.

Almost a year ago we posted the recap of the second hundred posts with “Marching Onto the Third Hundred” (Jan. 2, 2014). There we said “If we were going to pick a “best of” list we wouldn’t be able. Yes, we liked them all but more than that, we liked what they all said about us. What gets said in the third hundred might be completely different. But it will still say this is who we are and what we do.”

Well the third hundred has been different. You might have noticed more of the posts were what He did rather than what We did. She is still there in posts and in thoughts but sometime over the year the blog became more his chronicles. And they will continue every Monday and Thursday as planned. Or at least as anticipated. About the only differences you might notice are more “I” and “me” than “he” and “we.”

And so the Real Reality Show Blog marches onto the four hundred however funny, thoughtful, observant, or a little off-kilter. That’s the thing about blogs. They are what you make of them. And whether there are readers or not, there will always be writers. And happy new year, too.

Now, that’s what I think. Really. How ‘bout you?

How-ow Fake Can You Sinnngg, By the Bright TV Lights

January 24, 2013Michael Leave a comment

The classy ones know it. No guessing. No wondering. Just doing. Aretha knows that. The story is that when she heard about Beyonce lip-syncing the Star Spangled Banner she laughed about it. We figure it’s because we know that she knows what’s important, what’s immaterial, and what’s classy.

Classy is the lady who sang the real thing. She admits that 40 degree weather isn’t ideal for singing. Ask all those high school choral directors trying to get their charges to sing that very same song in that and lower temperatures during the last games in the high school football season. It isn’t easy, but they did it. So did she. The real she. The classy she. It’s not always about doing it. It’s about saying that you did when you did, that you didn’t when you didn’t, and caring why there’s a difference.

Lip-syncing controversies go back to Milli Vanilli and did they or didn’t they. They did and had to give their Grammy back. Probably the Archies did also. We’re sure those cartoon characters that somehow managed to put out two Top Ten hits including a Number One single weren’t doing their own singing especially since they were cartoon characters.

Even in our suburban world of grown up garage bands headlining Friday fish fries at neighborhood bars we can’t get away from lip-syncing. Seems there are at least two, possibly three bands that “pack them in” at local bar-wannabe-nightclubs that can’t do it consistently without their own CDs loaded into the sound board.

So who got the class here? There were other performances in that same 40 degree weather. Kelly Clarkson did it. James Taylor did it. The marine band did it. Except when told not to. Classy? Yes. But for our money, the real class acts are those kids singing the national anthem in the cold, in front of all those other kids and parents who really just want to watch the game, go home, and have some hot chocolate. Those are the ones who have the most class. And you can’t fake that.

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?