Tag: internet

It’s been weaponized…and that’s F’ing scary!

Posted on by CV Whitfield

Today, is a great time for writers. It’s also a scary time too!

20 years ago, when I started a real effort to be a professional writer, I knew it would be a very hard and vigorous journey. I also knew there were no guarantees that I could actually pull it off. It was like buying a lottery ticket. One could think about it, research numbers and then finally buy a ticket and still not win anything. That was just the publishing world. Not everyone was ‘lucky’ enough to get their break.

Fast forward to today, and now almost anyone — actually everyone can write a book and get it published. Granted, I’m referring to the new ability to self-publish. I could have self-published in 1999 as well, but it would have been horribly expensive and a financial burden to my family.

With services like Lulu and Amazon, you can now get your book placed digitally on the internet. They offer consumers the ability to buy your book, both digitally or print-on-demand, and you can financially benefit from it. Now, you still need to put some work into marketing and publicizing it or it will just get lost in a sea of thousands — millions of new books.

Now, I will consider the self publish route so I get more control of my creation. I will still shoot for a traditional publishing contract too. Yet, I have a new fear. A very real one. That fear is the — INTERNET! Or more precisely SOCIAL MEDIA.

It has been weaponized. And it can destroy people’s careers. I say this as a worst case scenario of course. But it should be a real fear for writers. What-if, my book is successful? What-if, I’m the next J.K. Rowling?

And then, someone is offended by something I wrote. What if they interpret that my book as something it isn’t and go to social media. Now I have to defend it. Or defend my life and my career. Because today, creators can be accused, tried, and punished by popular opinion and its far more damaging than a court of law nowadays — and usually this destruction bipasses due process and the courts. And this is scary.

So, everyday I tell myself to be kind. Be humble. Tell my stories they way I want and how, if I was just a reader, would like to read them. This is my confidence — AND I will SUCCEED!


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“Doctor, Oscar is Flatlining!”

Posted on by CV Whitfield
photo courtesy of Hollywood Reporter

Let’s be blunt. The Oscar broadcast is dying. Eventually it will be dead.

Facts are hard to dispute. The numbers are falling. There’s several factors for this.

In the last 24 hours, the Academy has released that several awards will be presented during commercial break. And for some ridiculous reason, “professionals” are now throwing tantrums of how this destroys the work these people do. Really?! It doesn’t undermine their work. It’s a freaking award show. I don’t recall box office numbers aiding in what is considered the best movie of a year. No, its a closed group of peers that vote. A movie can win best picture that only had a box office draw of $22M. Yet, something like Avengers can bust records at $1.5B. (Oh, its because Avengers was on 4K screens and the best picture was only on 207–uh, no.). There’s a reason the best picture is on 207 screens. Because the average movie going audience wouldn’t go see it. Does it make it a better movie? I guess it’s a matter of opinion and certain points of view….

This isn’t the reason the Academy Award show is declining. The real reason: THE INTERNET!

Yes, its the World Wide Web. And honestly, I believe the show will be exclusively broadcast stereaming on an Academy website very soon. Now, why is it dying? I read an article several years ago and I can’t recall who wrote it or where it was published, so I apologize as its not my intent to disrespect that intelligent soul. Yet, that person predicted why the Oscars would die. And they were right. That person predicted that the use of Social Media would destroy the viewership of the Oscars. It’s coming true.

The reason people watched the Oscars was because it was a way to see your favorite stars outside of the movies. They wanted to see the glamour and the glitz. They wanted to see their favorite actors arrive on the carpet and talk to the reporters. It made these stars more earthborn more relatable. Something magazines couldn’t do. Now, we have Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. These actors are watched by millions everyday. They know what they eat. They know when they run to the grocery store. Why would I want to watch a 4 hour show on them sitting and clapping?

And don’t get me started on the Polictical Correctness and Identiy Politics that Hollywood seems to be infatuated with lately. This hurts the bottom line although they can’t see it through their moral righteousness. BEFORE you send me hate mail (email), I speak honestly as a consumer of movies and someone that is currently trying to make them. Movies made me who I am. I love it. Yet, I don’t think a contrived award show dismantles the hard work we all do. That’s just the gravy, baby!

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Are there still gullible people….

Posted on by CV Whitfield

I’ve been on the internet since the mid-90s. I remember when there were providers like AOL, Compuserv and Prodigy. It took 5 minutes just to log on (Dial number – type password – wait for beep – tolerate the screeching and boops and bleeps) to the internet. And since I was an AOL user, “you’ve got mail!”

Those days were so exciting and cool. The country – world – was connected for the first time ever. And it only cost $6.95 plus how many hours you used. Yeah, remember those days. The internet was like a 1-900 number. You could log on but you were smart with your time. You checked email. You maybe went into a chat room to talk to girls (or boys). You checked a bulletin board or a posting forum. And we used egg timers and log off. Like early cellphones, you used them but only for really important things. We weren’t so consumed by them. Well, until AOL did this: they offered “unlimited” internet for only $19.95!! At the incredible fast speed of 28.8 kbps!

Websites were very simple. The more photos and sparkles the longer it took to download. Internet video was nearly unavailable. I remember spending 3 hours in 1998 to down load the 2 minute The Phantom Menance trailer. And that was at a tiny QuickTime movie that was only about 3×4 inches on my screen. We are completely spoiled today because I can down load an entire movie in 1080p high definition in less than 2 minutes – 3 minutes if the internet is slow!

Things would come through your email that made you smile. Correspondence from old friends. Sometimes, you could talk your grandmother into using the computer at the library to send you an email instead of the old handwritten letters. For the first time, you could get on mailing lists from fan clubs, your favorite websites and stores – like Toys R Us and Kenner toys. (I was really into Star Wars in the 90s). And then there was the: “Congratulations you won Somalia lottery!” It would read: “hello sir, You won our Somalia lottery. i have been instructed to reach to you to get some important information.” Then, they would want your SSN, a bank account number – you know to send the money to – and your mothers maiden name and date of birth. Seems legit, right? Even back then I would ask myself how did I enter a lottery in a country I have never been? Or a country I didn’t even know where it is? So, I never fell for it. But I know many did. I always felt sorry for those gullible folks.

It’s been over 20 years since those days. That’s a lot of time to learn the scams and the tricks. I’ve seen some strange stuff out there. I’m pretty sure that some of the girls I talked to in chat rooms (when I was still a very young man) were really just hairy dudes in their basement trying mess with me or they were just sick and demented. So, why is it in 2019, I’m still getting emails that try and convince me I’ve won some lottery? Or had some money willed to me by some dying king and queen? Or that a trunk was found at the airport loaded with cash and gold? Really? Why don’t this people just keep the gold themselves? Do these scams still work? I mean I didn’t fall of the internet truck yesterday…..

Or did I?………

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