Friday, March 12, 2010

Blogaholics Anonymous

I'm a big fan of the TV show House. I watch it almost every Monday night and if I miss it, I record it so it's ready for me when I can watch it. Monday night was a typical crazy night, so I missed the episode and caught it last night.

Did anyone see Monday's episode? About the Blogger???

It was freakin ridiculous.

Seems Dr. House and his team's new patient was a "blogger". The show starts off with the woman on her computer typing on some pseudo-blogspot web site, a blog journal. The camera scrolls down as she is typing things like,"Ryan and I just had a fight. He's gone to bed and I am here typing."
Ryan (or whatever his name was) comes out and says to her, "Are you coming to bed or what?"
To which she replies some garbage about how 8 out of 10 commenter's on her blog think he is wrong. They then have a mini argument over how she wrote about the fight on her blog and what about their privacy and yada, yada, yada. She says, "I write about my life and my readers want the truth." Then she starts bleeding profusely from her mouth and her medical drama ensues.

If you don't watch the show, it usually takes place in the hospital and it usually takes House and his team the entire hour to figure out what's wrong with the patient. This story, "the blogger" hit way too close to home, so I was riveted. And I was embarrassed. For Hollywood. Cuz they so got this one all wrong. The first scene in the hospital is of the woman in her hospital bed with her laptop in her lap and a visitor with a laptop in her lap. She is writing her blog and the visitor is reading it. And we know this because they have just told the doctors as much.

Yeah right, like all bloggers live blog from the hospital...(so what if I did here, and here, that's not the point) Then the docs gave her some serious news and she has to make a choice on which course her medical treatment will take. So what does she do? Yup, you guessed it! She asks the bloggersphere what to do, and her boyfriend has a fit. Now I ask you-do any of you have a "problem" with obsessive blogging?? Have your loved ones told you you have changed since you started blogging? Do you consider your blog an integral part of your life, like you couldn't make a serious decision without checking in with the sphere? Do you over share the intimate details of your life with the world?

The story then takes this dramatic turn about how no one values privacy in our society anymore because we are sharing everything on the Internet. The boyfriend even goes as far as to tell the blogger that their lives have been turned into a performance, a show, because she shares everything. Really? Are we that stereotypical? Just because some enjoy the creative process of writing something, anything, everyday to share with whomever decides to read it does that make them "blog-a-holics"? Are we obsessed with sharing every intimate detail for the purpose of validation from a bunch of "strangers"? Cuz that's what the show was aiming for.

Hey Hollywood, save the drama for your dramas! And that's just what this was, a drama. Not real life and not true. I have been on both sides of the blogger dilemma, too much time/not enough time, and I can tell you that most bloggers blog for the love of the written word and sharing it with a few who love it just as much as they do. It's great when you connect with some great people and yes, when you ask for their advice and they give it to you. It's nice to know you've got a blogger friend and even a small blogger family, but most of us are not addicted to posting. And most of us are scrambling to fit blogging into our lives. Get real Hollywood. Unless a blogger is making some serious bank blogging daily, you can bet that it's just a fun pastime for most and a body of work they can be proud of. Do you agree?

Now if Showtime would just come and option my blog for a mini-series, I'll get as intimate as they want. For the benefit of the art, of course.

14 comments:

Heff said...

I don't ask advice from ANY of you turkeys, LMAO !!!!

Mrs. Hall said...

I think there is a certain amount of blogging being an obssession. Or, rather, once you start blogging and find out how awesome it is telling your story, you want to keep doing that.

Plus, i have creative energies. There going to come out either way.

I've never had issues with blogging (in terms of family noticing or effects on my health)

but once I start bleeding from my mouth, that's that day I will quit.

or scale back . . .


maybe ;)

RW said...

weeeeeeelllllllllllll..... I do know of a handful of people who would actually do what the woman in the show did.

I have a limit beyond which things that are happening aren't the blogosphere's bizness and you will never see, but there are some folks out there who don't have those boundaries.

I will not name names.

Scott Oglesby said...

Well you know me Candy, I only post two or three times a week and just post about whatever happens to pop into my head that day. Probably to alleviate the pain of selling out to the advertising industry…or something. Usually it’s fiction, as you know I rarely delve into my personal life. Oh BTW just to keep you up to date….

That new medication to clear up that …um infection I got in Thailand….it’s giving me some really weird side affects. My testicles are swollen and really achy. It’s making masturbating really difficult. Thank God for my wife but she really only gets in the mood once or twice a week and I’m usually up for at least 4 or 5.

Oh, and I’m still having that dream with the three nuns and the clown….never mind, I don’t want to get too personal on these here internets.

Soda and Candy said...

Ha, most of the time it seems like TV writers barely have any idea how the internet works, let alone something fancy like blogging.

Captain Dumbass said...

I've noticed that trend when Hollywood has a blogger as a character. It's not like there aren't plenty of writers there who blog as well. What's the deal?

Anonymous said...

I think most of us blog for fun or the social aspect and it's just one of many things that make up our day, but I think some people are addicted to the idea that other people can read their words. You meet people who post anxious entries from someplace away from home in case we were all terrified that they hadn't posted in two hours, because they somehow think their blog is important in the scheme of things. And well. It isn't. If you can't go out for the day without fretting about your blog, you have an issue, I think.

I certainly wouldn't put out personal info. in my blog nor would I expect the blog commenters I have to make decisions for me. That's dumb.

I think TV writers just latch onto a subject then don't bother researching it properly. I don't know many people who're THAT into their blog that their whole life would be their blog. :) But this IS "House" and everything on that show is ridiculous, like how no one can ever have a NORMAL illness, it's always some freaking virus contracted from a snake in the Congo which was passed to someone else and ended up in some innocent woman in New Jersey, yada yada yada. Yawn. Can just ONCE, someone have appendicitis?

Scope said...

And every one in IT can open a socket and bypass the firewall to get the secret documents onto the thumbdrive just in time.

Not realistic.

Chris said...

Hey, we live in a world where a woman Tweeted as her son drowned and a psycho-woman You-Tubed her abortion.

I'll believe anything at this point.

Pop and Ice said...

I love "House" as well, but I thought the episode was off a bit as well. I know I'm not an obsessive blogger - always been a bit sketchy - not good at the commitment thi.....uh, honey, I didn't mean YOU...

Fragrant Liar said...

I cannot honestly imagine being so obsessed with blogging. I can hardly get to my blog enough during the week to put up posts that I give (usually) a whole lot of thought to (versus giving that much thought to the comments I might get). I mean, I do LOVE the comments, but I write and post for the instant gratification. Yes, I'm a blog post whore. Comments, as much as they are appreciated, are secondary.

The Dental Maven said...

Hollywood takes license with everything. Whats more, people seem to love stereotypes, unless of course, the stereotype is about them. :)

Homemaker Man said...

I watched this episode. It would've been fun if a couple times she had been like, "what the f . . . blogger just erased all my followers." Or, " I don't want that picture there, I want it over here!"

Would've lent a little depth.

Anonymous said...

I started blogging when I got divorced, sort of a way to kill time until she is completely gone. She's still around (waiting for the house to sell a damn year later) I don't watch house but did see the beginning and thought it was lame. I have never seen anyone blog like that but what the hell do I know. I just like being an idiot and blogging was a good way to do it.