Thursday, September 30, 2010

Worked up about Politics?

Why do some people care sooooo much about politics?

By "politics" I mean party politics, elections, "go out and vote", etc...

Why?

How many changes have we had in political leadership have we had in the past 50 years? Is there a noticeable difference in how we experience life in our cities, provinces, countries?

Maybe... Of course if we look at a yearly aggregate of our experiences - the beautiful, tragic, pretty good, oh shit, etc., I'd bet that which mayor/PM leads our government should be given a weight of about 0.000001% - well behind anything within our own personal spheres of influence.

So why get worked up over something that affects us so little?

And voting... We're all just allowed one damn vote - no matter how many yard signs, conversations (arguments) with friends, and other crap we do.

One vote is worth... one vote. But a mouthpiece from an 18-year-old library worker just might bring in many votes... maybe. Check it out here! http://uniter.ca/view/4650/

Why is this guy getting worked up about crap that doesn't really affect him?

Which reminds me: I've been checking Blue Jays scores for the last 90-minutes...

Thesis statement:

Politics = sports
Elections = playoffs

Probably pretty similar anyway. Voting is like cheering in its futility/effectiveness.

Politics = important
Sports = entertainment

That's what bugs me. There's not much of a difference. Can the "Get out and vote" bs. I don't try and guilt you into watching baseball.

You cheer for Judy, I'll cheer for the Blue Jays.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Specialty Channels

I don't watch TV. We don't even have one in our apartment.

But I think something fascinating is going on in the world of cable/satellite television.

Sportsnet One -

The Blue Jays' fan base is up in arms over Rogers new sports channel, Sportsnet One. The problem: pretty much all Blue Jays games used to be available through basic cable. Now Rogers has made a percentage of them available only on Sportsnet One, which is not currently part of basic cable/satellite packages. Fans (yes some of us enjoy watching baseball on TV) are angry because they are unable to watch many Jays games.

Rogers' solution to the problem they created: get cable/satellite providers pay a little more and make Sportsnet One part of basic cable, or get fans to pay the extra X.99$/mo. to subscribe to the channel.

Either way they get more money without adding any content.

* * * * *
This appears to be the trend in the cable/satellite industry, and I suppose the previous sentence is the reason why. So many channels, so much redundancies in programming... I guess it doesn't really matter for me. It just seem so inefficient.

Seems like this is part of the trend of media companies are trying to find the most profitable combination of advertising (Do you actually watch the program?) and subscription revenue (Do you want the ability to watch the program?) streams. I think the bracketed questions are important. Makes me wonder where this industry is going long-term.

Anyways... I guess this doesn't really affect me.