For Shame
Dear Blog,
I am so ashamed. I watched American Idol 3 nights this week. It’s bad that I watch the show, but, you know, guilty pleasures. It’s worse that I started watching in the beginning of the season, when I tried to make a strict rule about not watching until they got down to the final 12, because who are they to take up 6 months of my life with this stupid crap? But I got sucked in. The worst part, though, and where the deep shame really comes from, is watching the results show. It’s total bullshit, just another hour to sell more Coke ads. But somehow I ended up watching it last night while waiting for LOST to come on. Like I need to watch an hour of crappy beat-boxing, losers crying, Ryan Seacrest trying to be suspenseful, and tear-infused singing. It’s embarrassing, but I’m addicted. I might actually have feelings for the contestants this season (other than wanting to have sex with the kid with dreads. That’s totally acceptable.). Ugh.
Go Ahead – Google Yourself
As I venture to start an online business with my husband, I am becoming more aware of, and concerned about, my identity online. I started thinking about this because I have another blog with a photographer friend of mine with my name all over it. I just wrote a silly list of my funniest mistakes in my sex life, which I think would be perfect for the blog, except that I don’t really want someone doing a Google search on my name to come across a post on how cute my clit is. Published writers can talk about their clits and get away with it. The rest of us are just sluts with day jobs. So it’s time to consider my virtual persona.
The first step is to fix any potential negative representations floating in cyberspace. For example, my drunk photos on MySpace are not exactly good pre-interview material. And I guess I shouldn’t add the cute photocopy guy from work to my LinkedIn profile. While adorable, he might not be the best person to get a cold call from a hiring manager. It’s time for some housecleaning of my social networking and blog profiles.
The next step is to craft a public personality for all to see. One blogger uses the same photo for all her profiles to create consistency and to enable her readers to identify her in different spaces. Note to self: contact photographer friend before taking this step. There are a number of good suggestions available, so I’m going to be experimenting over the coming months.
All this seems to be a lot of work when I’d rather be totally anonymous or truly authentic, but it’s hard to hide from Google. It’s just better to put on a good face.
Reality Bites? Try Actuality.
While watching crappy TV the other day, I saw an astounding commercial for TruTV. TruTV amazes me because it is a network dedicated to taking the reality show to the next level, which I gather is “actuality” based on their tagline “Not Reality. Actuality.” As one who is not sure what the difference is between reality and actuality, especially since they are synonyms, this feat is on par with splitting atoms to me. Imagine bringing the reality show to actuality – what the fuck does that mean? I’m not sure, but it may have something to do with their “high-stakes, action-packed originals”, which sound slightly different from the “drama-filled, slut-packed imitations” that are featured on other networks. So, good for them for figuring how to make reality more actual. I’m still holding out for the network that is about “Not actuality. Just really good fiction.”
